The Millennium Series, Book One: The Champion
by Soleil Mourning
Summary: A modernized re-telling of that first epic battle, this story is the first in The Millennium Series. Set in modern-day New York, Serena is a wayward young Starbucks barista, whose life will change forever when a little black cat crosses her path.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE:**

The kingdom lay in smoldering ruins. Tears stung the Queen's steel gray eyes and threatened to spill over as she surveyed the shattered remains of what was once a vast and glittering empire. The devastation was almost total: not a single building still stood, not a single subject still breathed, and worst of all, her own daughter's body lay limp, bloodied, and lifeless on the castle steps.

The attack came on suddenly and it was over in a matter of days. Civilization after civilization had been destroyed until only the Moon was left. There hadn't been any warning. Communications had been cut off and Serenity suspected that betrayers to the empire had been responsible. It had taken only hours for the empire's armies, who for centuries had steadfastly guarded the perimeter of the kingdom, to be destroyed. They were no match for the thousands of shadow warriors sent to the Moon to wipe out every living soul.

And now only the Queen remained. She climbed the castle steps – what remained of them – with the stately composure befitting Her Majesty. _All is not lost_, she thought bitterly as she gazed upon the Imperium Silver Crystal that hung suspended in the air before her. Its light was greatly weakened, but not yet spent. This last incantation would extinguish the crystal for one thousand years. And though her daughter would have another chance at life, she would never know her true mother, for when the Crystal went out, so too would Serenity's life force.

Serenity knew the Crystal's most supreme power had been harnessed only once before, to end the Great War that ravaged the universe millennia ago. She knew that the incantation would only trap the evil, not destroy it. But she prayed that when the time came, this time her Princess would be ready. She would have the power to vanquish the Dark One once and for all.

"Sleep well, my darling daughter," said Serenity softly. "I pray we meet again someday."

She took a breath, channeled the spell, and spoke the words: "Cosmic Moon Power!"

And all went dark.


	2. Chapter 1: Rebirth

**CHAPTER ONE: Rebirth**

"Welcome to Starbucks, what can I make for you?"

"Yeah, gimme a venti Sumatra black, double shot."

"That'll be $5.85, please."

He was a regular. He came in at the same time every morning before heading off to what was probably a very important job. He was always dressed impeccably and sporting dark sunglasses. His suit was always black to match his hair. He looked almost like a Secret Service agent, except for the shades, which were Armani. Serena normally couldn't recognize designer labels, but she had spent a few months living on her younger brother's couch and the view from the window was an Armani billboard featuring two young models wearing the brand. She associated the sunglasses with a low point in her life in which she was forced to mooch off her baby brother whose high school geekiness was now paying dividends in the technology sector. Serena, therefore, didn't like this particular customer much. He never once said more than his order to her, but anyone who wore designer sunglasses must have some kind of personality flaw, she reasoned. Spending more than nine dollars on sunglasses was just a gratuitous extravagance. There were starving children in Africa!

"That's a very strange hairstyle you got there."

At first Serena thought she was hearing things. "Um, what?" she asked dumbly.

"Your hair," he repeated. "It's very different."

Her hand self-consciously moved up to the top of her head and she touched the essence of her signature hairstyle: two small buns affixed to the top of each side of her head. Long blond ponytails extended from each bun and reached all the way down to her waist. She hadn't had a substantive haircut since she was eight years old. At twenty-five, she may not have had much to show for her education or career, but she did have an awful lot of hair.

"Oh," she said. "Well, I've been doing it like this since I was a little kid…"

"Looks like a pair of meatballs on the top of your head."

Her face burned crimson. Meatballs?

"So that was a venti Sumatra black, double shot you said?"

He smirked and nodded while handing over a crisp fifty-dollar bill. What a tool, Serena thought. She calculated his change, purposefully giving him the bills and the remaining fifteen cents in nothing but pennies as her own small form of revenge. Chad, her teenage co-worker who considered it a great injustice that he be forced to work at a Starbucks when he should be concentrating on his band (who he swore would be the next Rolling Stones), placed the coffee order on the counter.

"Here you are, sir," Serena said, smiling widely and wishing he would go.

"Thanks," he said accepting his beverage. "See you around, Meatball-Head." And with that, he turned and left.

"That guy just call you Meatball-Head?" asked Chad, incredulously.

Serena seethed.

"Wow, that is such a perfect name for you! I would never have thought of that!" he exclaimed.

"Wonderful," Serena muttered. "Who's next!"

"Mel, I'm going to take lunch, okay?"

"All right, baby, but don't take too long. I hate it when you make me wait," Mel, the manager, sneered. Serena rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the stare she could feel emanating from his revolting presence. Serena tossed her green cap into her bag and pushed through the front doors. As she stepped into the sun she drew in a deep breath and exhaled. She decided to grab lunch from the food cart at the corner and eat it in Battery Park. She ordered a lamb gyro with extra tzatziki sauce and handed over a fistful of crumpled bills. As she entered the park, a black cat quickly darted across her path. _Oh, I guess this day is going to get worse_, she thought. She found an empty bench, sat down, and unwrapped her sandwich. She inhaled the meaty aroma and took a gooey bite. Gobs of yogurt sauce fell out of the sandwich and onto her shirt. _Of course_.

Serena sat back and listened to the sounds of tourists giggling excitedly, snapping pictures, and sounding generally happy. _Assholes. _The black cat reappeared, but instead of crossing her path, it sat down a mere five feet in front of Serena and stared. _She's kind of cute_, she thought. Serena bent down and extended her hand. The cat took a few tentative steps closer, stopped, and sat down again. She was thin and wiry and was entirely black save for an odd patch of white fur on her face just above her eyes. _Looks like a crescent moon, _Serena thought. _Neat._ Serena stuck two fingers into her gyro and pulled out a strip of lamb. She dangled it before the cat's face. The cat's ears perked up and she gratefully accepted the meal. Seeing how ravenously the small cat attacked what was probably the first food she'd seen in awhile, the hardness in Serena's heart softened a little. She pulled back the foil from the sandwich, unrolled the pita, and placed it on the sidewalk in front of her. The cat gorged itself on street meat and for the first time all day, Serena smiled.

_Well, there goes my $5 lunch budget_, she thought. She stood up and little shreds of lettuce fell from her lap to the sidewalk. _Back to the grind_. She chuckled to herself at her lame joke and started back to work.

Dragging her green apron behind her, Serena shuffled along the sidewalk sidestepping the occasional pile of canine excrement left behind by some inconsiderate dog owner. Her thoughts drifted to earlier in the day when she served that tall, important-looking man his usual coffee. She always asked him what he wanted even though he came in at exactly 7:40 every morning and ordered the exact same thing. He was all business and never seemed to notice her, always checking email on the Blackberry that was permanently affixed to his palm. He was out of her league, no doubt. Probably some important executive at Goldman Sachs or Merrill Lynch. The kind of man her mother always told her she should marry. She used to think he was hot until that Meatball-Head crack. Now he was just obnoxious. Well, maybe still a little hot. But way too obnoxious.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a shrill scream. At first she dismissed it as typical New York noise. _Probably some high school kids horsing around_, she thought. The scream came again and Serena stopped cold. She could hear sounds of a struggle coming from an alley a few yards ahead of her. _Oh my god_, she thought, _this is it. It's happening. I'm witnessing a mugging. What do I do?_ She reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt and felt around for her cell phone. _I'll take a peek down the alley and I'll dial 911._ She took a few hesitant steps toward the alley and cautiously peered around the wall. Her heart stopped.

Pushed up against the concrete wall was a girl who looked but a few years younger than Serena. She was trying to scream, but the hands – if you could call them that – at her throat prevented anything more than choked gasps from escaping her lips. The attacker was nearly twice the girl's size and although the day was quickly fading into twilight, Serena could make out a twisted face, contorted beyond anything nature could produce. It had claws and huge forearms with bulging muscles and it lifted the girl into the air with what seemed to be no effort at all. A beam of light surrounded both monster and victim and all the color drained from the girl's face. Her body went limp.

"Serena, you must help her!" came a small voice from behind her.

Serena whirled around, but saw no one.

"Serena, quick!" said the voice again, more urgently this time.

Serena scanned the street but still found no one. It was then she noticed a black cat standing on top of an old Camry staring at her. _Yeah, that's impossible_, she thought.

But then it was unmistakable.

"Serena! Take this!" And the cat nudged a small object off the roof of the car and it fell clattering onto the street.

Dumbfounded, Serena didn't move. _It's finally happened. I've lost my mind. I'm seeing monsters in alleyways and cats that talk. I wonder if my health plan covers psychotic breakdowns. _She closed her eyes and counted to five. When she opened them again, she would see no monster and no cat. _One, two, three, four…five!_ She blinked a few times and saw the cat was no longer on the car. She sighed in relief.

"OUCH!" she screamed as a searing pain tore into the flesh of her calf. Fresh blood dripped from the wound.

"WAKE UP, SERENA!" the cat hissed.

"This isn't happening," she muttered.

"It's happening," said the cat impatiently. "The girl is getting attacked and you are the only one who can stop it. Now take this locket and say 'Moon Prism Power,'" the cat ordered.

Serena picked up the locket and opened it. Immediately, a hauntingly beautiful – and somewhat familiar – tune began to play. "Moon prism…power?" she repeated. She meant to ask a question but as soon as the words escaped her lips, a strange dream-like feeling washed over her. Suddenly, she could see nothing but blackness. _Am I blind?_ she wondered, beginning to panic. But then suddenly, twinkling stars were all around her and she felt her body move on its own without any direction from her. In an instant, she was naked, but it did not occur to her to feel embarrassed. It felt as though her body knew what to do, as if she had gone through these motions before. Her body became warm as the locket glittered in front of her suspended in the blackness. It hung close to her chest when all of a sudden bright pink ribbons came bursting out of it. Serena blinked her eyes in disbelief, but felt strangely comforted as the ribbons enveloped her small body encasing it in warmth. Nothing was in focus so she closed her eyes and embraced the dreamy feeling. _I knew it_, she thought. _I am dreaming!_

When it was over, Serena looked down and saw that her ragged jeans and sweatshirt were gone. In their place was a white body suit with a blue skirt and a blue sailor collar. Gone were her $5 Old Navy flip-flops and instead her feet were inside tall, pink, sturdy boots. Long white gloves came up to her elbow and a pink bow with the new locket in the center sat affixed to her chest. She ran over to the Camry and gazed at her reflection in the window. On her forehead was a bronze tiara with a small pink stone in the center.

"Now, go and face the monster, Serena!" the cat commanded.

"What?"

"GO!"

Serena tiptoed back toward the alley where the girl now lay motionless on the ground and the monster stood roaring over her. Serena glanced back at the cat and though she said nothing, her expression was clear: _Are you nuts?_ Serena turned her head back toward the alley. Her instinct was to run but her feet refused to move. The monster lifted its gargantuan head and noticed Serena for the first time.

"Bonus," it growled. As it began to advance on Serena, a window-shattering scream pierced the air. Serena was not at all surprised when she discovered the scream came from her own mouth. At that moment, her feet woke up and she immediately spun around and ran.

"Serena!" the cat called after her. "Where are you going?"

Serena didn't answer but ran for her life. She could hear the sound of hooves thudding on the sidewalk behind her as the monster got closer. Suddenly, the thing grabbed Serena by her sailor collar and hoisted her into the air.

"HELP ME!" she screamed. The monster hurled her onto the hood of a nearby Buick and Serena didn't move. Pain shot up her body and her head began to throb. The cat was next to her again.

"Serena," said the cat calmly, "If you want to live, you've got to listen to me. Remove the tiara from your forehead, say 'Moon Tiara Magic' and throw it at the monster as if you were throwing a Frisbee. It will work, trust me."

_Sure, trust you_, Serena thought. But as the monster advanced on her again she immediately brought her hand to her head and the tiara slipped off easily. As she went through the motions, she felt as though she had done this very thing sometime before. She didn't go to college so she wasn't trained in the art of Ultimate Frisbee. She never was much for sports, but yet her body felt very much at ease with what she was about to do.

"Moon tiara magic?" she said slowly and to her amazement, the tiara morphed into a disc before her very eyes. She glanced back in the direction of the creature, took aim, and flung. The disc sparkled and sizzled through the air. Serena's eyes grew to the size of golf balls as she watched the disc tear through the monster's body. He let out an agonizing scream and fell to the ground. His broken body evaporated into dust and the disc clattered to the ground.

Serena stood panting heavily as her brain tried to comprehend the events of the past twenty minutes. _One of three things is happening here, _she thought_. I'm suffering from some kind of severe psychotic break, I'm stuck in an extended dream state a la _Inception_, or Earth has been invaded by monster aliens._ Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a small voice speak up: "What happened?"

"Oh!" said Serena as she hurried toward the girl and kneeled down next to her. "You were attacked. But it's all right now."

The girl's eyes were shining as she looked up at Serena. "I was walking home and then the next thing I know, I'm being shoved up against the wall. You – you saved me?"

"Um. Yeah. I guess so," Serena replied. The girl coughed and Serena touched her arm. "You'll be okay," she reassured her. "Did you happen to see what – er, who – attacked you?"

"It was…hmm, it was…Well, no. I guess I didn't see. But it looks like you got him before he got my iPhone. Thank you," the girl said gratefully as she slowly gathered her things, which had been strewn around on the sidewalk.

"No problem." Serena turned to walk away and noticed the black cat sitting in her path clutching the metal tiara in her teeth. She knelt down to retrieve the tiara and gave the cat a pat. She purred in appreciation. Serena stood up again and returned the tiara to her forehead and waved goodbye.

"Hey wait," the girl replied, hurrying after her. Her voice was regaining its strength and Serena detected a hint of a Brooklyn accent. "What's your name?"

The cat began doing figure eights around Serena's ankles at this point so she felt compelled to pick the cat up and scratch her lightly behind the ears. "Oh, my name is S- OWWWW! STUPID CAT!" Serena immediately released the cat from her grip and clutched her arm to her chest.

"Ooh, looks like she got 'ya bad," the girl said sympathetically. "This is why I'm a dog person."

"Oh, she's not MY cat," Serena replied, glaring angrily at the small menace who had not seen fit to merely deprive her of her lunch that day, but to also get her into life-threatening melees with monsters.

"Seriously? She kinda looks like your cat, what with the crescent moon and all."

Serena scoffed.

"Well anyway," the girl continued, "I really need to get going. But thanks again for saving my life."

Serena smiled as the girl headed down the block. _Now that my work is done, I should be waking up any minute now_, she thought.

"Serena," came a voice. She looked down. The cat again.

"Longest dream ever," Serena murmured.

"I assure you, Serena, this is no dream. Sorry about the bite before –"

"Which one!"

"Um, the last one. I just didn't want you giving away your name to a stranger on the street. You need to protect your identity. From now on, when you're transformed, you will be known by your warrior name – Sailor Moon."

"Ah, sailor, I get it. Because of the striped collar? And moon because of the locket? And the earrings?"

"It's actually slightly more complicated than that. But speaking of the locket, if you pull it off, you'll return to your street clothes."

_Hmm_, Serena thought. _This dream is so intricate! Maybe I'll turn it into a screenplay._ She pulled the locket from her chest and sure enough, her sailor uniform was instantly replaced with the ratty sweatshirt and jeans again. She stuffed the locket into the front pocket on her sweatshirt and headed for home.

The rest of the evening passed by in a blur. Serena made it home and didn't even change out of her sweatshirt and jeans before collapsing on her bed. Her eyes were shut barely a minute before she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 2: Night

**CHAPTER TWO: Night**

Darien woke up in a cold sweat panting. It was the third time this week he'd had the same dream. Each night the dream lasted a little longer than it did the night before. Each night the dream was slightly more vivid, more realistic. It wasn't a bad dream, exactly. If he'd described it to a therapist, and it was considering it more and more, she probably wouldn't ascribe some awful agenda or deep-seated fear to his subconscious. But even though the details of the dream were almost pleasant, the feeling it gave him was anything but. In the dream he was dressed in some kind of uniform, but not Army or Navy, or anything he recognized. There was a great sword at his waist and he was floating above a glassy lake toward a white building with many steps out front and columns, sort of like the main branch of the New York Public Library in midtown, a historic building he visited only when he was in the area and needed access to a clean restroom. He was floating toward a figure that kept calling out his name: "Darien! Darien!" As he'd float closer to her, she'd turn away from him so he couldn't see her face. All he saw was a white dress and long, shimmering blond hair. Her voice grew louder and more urgent as he got closer. She sounded fearful, like something terrible was about to happen.

He glanced over at the alarm clock sitting on his night table. 5:45AM. There was no point in rolling over and trying to get any more sleep, so he got up, threw on some sweats and headed outside for what was becoming a daily run. His building had a gym with high-quality facilities, but most mornings he chose to run along the West Side Highway and gaze out over the river toward New Jersey and try to piece together the dream fragments. The voice echoed in his brain. _It was only a dream_, he tried to reassure himself. _But why do I feel like I should be doing something? Or maybe…like I should be _looking_ for something?_

"Darien! Wake the hell up!"

"Huh? What? What!"

"You're spaced out again and I need the fairness opinion you did for Nortex last quarter."

"Oh, sorry, Ken. Hold on a sec, let me pull it up."

"What's with you these days?" Ken asked, more out of annoyance than concern. Darien was not his favorite person.

"Not sleeping well," came the curt reply. Darien located the file on his computer and Ken leaned over and watched while Darien dragged it into an email window and clicked Send.

"Pound a Red Bull and deal with it," said Ken, and he skulked off to his own desk.

A blond head peered around the door frame to Darien's office. "Darien, what's going on?" asked his co-worker, and college roommate, Andrew.

"Nothing, that guy's just a prick."

"No, seriously. You've been weird all week."

Darien sighed. "I'm cool, Andrew, okay? I just need to take a fucking Ambien or something. I don't sleep anymore."

"All right, well don't burn out."

"I won't, Mom. I'm going to run out for some fresh air for a bit." Darien stood up abruptly and pushed through the heavy glass doors that separated his office from the elevator bank. He descended to the lobby, nodded to the security guard, and stepped out into the sun. He blinked his eyes a few times. The days were getting shorter and although there were no trees to speak of in the heart of the financial district, he felt summer was fast fading into fall. He went outside as he often did in the middle of the afternoon to take a break from his computer screen and rejuvenate a bit before getting back to work. He thought about stopping by Starbucks for a jolt and remembered the girl who worked there. He hadn't noticed it before today, but she really was a beautiful girl. And she struck him as familiar some how. He paused a moment. True, he had seen her probably every day since he started working downtown, but he felt as though he knew her from years ago. Now that he thought of it, she kind of reminded him of that model-slash-actress in that new chick flick, the ads for which were plastered all over every bus in town. He wasn't sure why he only took note of her recently. She was exactly his type – if he had one. As far as Darien was concerned, women needed only two assets to interest him: beauty and body.

Darien started toward the Starbucks convinced he was going to ask the small meatball-headed girl out, but changed his mind at the last moment. _If I take her out and do my usual thing, I'll have to find a new Starbucks_, he thought. True, there was another one not fifty yards away, but that would involve passing his office and backtracking each morning. He wasn't sure the inefficiency was worth it. Besides, he wanted to do a little more research on this one.

Back in the office, Darien slumped back into his chair and plowed through charts and graphs until before he knew it, it was about nine o'clock.

"Darien, want to come to Bobby Vans with us?" Andrew asked gesturing to himself and Ken.

"Nah, go ahead," Darien replied. "I'm in the mood for something a little less refined."

"The Patriot? I honestly don't see what you see in that dive," said Ken.

"Yeah, well. You wouldn't," Darien replied. He pulled on his black trench and headed out with the guys, but when they reached the sidewalk, he split off and headed north while they went east. It was a nice night and an easy walk. When Darien arrived at the intersection of Church and Chambers Streets, he nodded to the bouncer and strolled right in. The bar occupied two levels and he climbed the stairs to take his regular place at the far corner of the second floor. He hoped she was working tonight. As he stepped into the light of the second floor bar, he stuck out like a sore thumb. The bar was full of construction workers stationed at Ground Zero most days of the week and tonight was no exception.

At first he didn't see her, but then the crowd parted slightly to make way for her slight frame. She sidled toward him and placed a vodka tonic on the table before him. He loved the way she remembered his drink.

"When are you going to let me take you out?" he drawled. "You'd love the view from my terrace."

"When are _you_ going to stop asking?" she retorted.

"Never," Darien answered. "Come on, let me take you to Sushi Samba. You like sushi don't you?"

"I have a boyfriend," she lied.

"No you don't," said Darien. "Sexy bartenders always say that. If you really want to try to convince the customers that you're taken, you should wear a fake engagement ring."

"Would that stop you?" she asked, glaring.

"Of course not," said Darien, coolly. "But only because I can tell when you're lying."

"Oh, can you?" she said, clearly not convinced.

"I sure can," he replied confidently. "Everyone's got a tell. And I've already found yours."

"And I've already told you a million times: not interested." And with that, she stalked off to check her other tables. But Darien wasn't deterred. He could hear "Sweet Cherry Pie" coming up from the downstairs jukebox and knew what that meant. He left a twenty-dollar bill on the table and headed back down the stairs. Sure enough, no fewer than five intoxicated girls were dancing sloppily on the bar. He narrowed his focus to one in particular, a tall, auburn-haired girl with sparkling green eyes and a constant smile. Clearly, she knew how to have fun. He fixed his eyes on her and when the song ended, extended a hand to help her down. She gratefully accepted and jumped down to the floor, which was sticky with beer. She teetered a little bit and he wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her. When she stood up straight, Darien was surprised to see she was as tall as he was.

"Hi there," he said sweetly.

"Hi!" she slurred.

"Model?" he asked. This sent her into hiccupy hysterics.

"No!"

"How about I give you a ride home?"


	4. Chapter 3: Alone

**CHAPTER THREE: Alone**

"Can you taste the saffron?" she asked impatiently.

"Um…what does saffron taste like?"

"Kind of like…it's kind of like a grassy essence."

"Grass?"

"Grassy _essence_," she snapped. "Just a note. An air."

"Um…"

"Ugh, _fine_. Never mind. Just eat it. Eat it and get out."

Ken, her best friend and unwilling guinea pig, was being frustratingly inarticulate. "Anyway, Lita," he said between mouthfuls of her saffron-essenced risotto, "you should meet this guy I work with. He's really cool. I think you'd like him."

"Quit trying to set me up with people, Ken. I do fine on my own, thank you very much. And quit scarfing that saffron! It's very expensive. You have to _savor_ it."

"I'm not saying you need help. All I'm saying is—"

"And what's with the assumption that I even want to date someone right now? You think women need to be coupled up in order to be happy? That's completely sexist!"

"No, Lita, I just thought—"

"Well, what kind of restaurants does he like? Did I tell you about the last guy? The one who took me to—"

"Yes, T.G.I. Friday's, it's all I heard about for days…"

"Well you have to admit, that's totally unacceptable."

"I guess. I mean, I don't really care about—"

"But what about you? Who are you dating these days?" Lita scooped herself a serving of risotto and removed her apron. She joined Ken at the dining table and began to eat. Knowing he could count on at least a few minutes of silence from his chatty friend while she ate, Ken told her about his latest girlfriend.

"Her name is Amy and she is ridiculously smart. She freelances as some kind of software designer. She's an only child. Her dad left when she was little so it's always been just her and her mom. Her mom lives in Jersey and she goes out there about once a month."

"How'd you meet?"

"She works for a client."

"You're not supposed to date clients."

"I know," Ken replied. "But she's technically not employed by the client. She designed some kind of software program for them and she works as a sort of consultant on a freelance basis. She might own some shares of the company, I don't know. Besides, I'm not on her account anyway. I met her in the office when the reps came in. A colleague of mine is handling their acquisition."

"Whasshe look like?" Lita asked, not bothering to swallow.

"Oh you know. Short. Short hair. She wears it kinda spiky. And dyed blue. Blue eyes. She wears glasses most of the time. She's cute though. Real cute."

"I'm sure," came the catty reply.

Ken got annoyed. "You know, maybe if you weren't so God-damned shallow, you could find a real relationship instead of fling after fling. I mean, God, Lita. It's been how long since Freddy?"

Lita narrowed her eyes and Ken knew he'd crossed a line in mentioning the dreaded ex.

"Lita…" he began. But it was too late. She pushed back her chair and headed toward her bedroom. Ken flinched at the slam of the door. He sighed and began to clear away the dishes.

Lita stared at her reflection in the vanity above her dresser. A red-eyed, tear-tracked face stared back at her. It had been about six years since the Unpleasantness, as she liked to refer to it, and she thought she was getting over it. She had done a good job with moving on with her life since then. Academics were never her strong suit so when she graduated high school, she enrolled in culinary school where she cultivated her natural knack for creating gustatory masterpieces. She could have worked under any of the finest chefs in New York City, but the hours were not to her liking. And after all, she certainly didn't need the money. Her inheritance left her more than enough to live comfortably.

Her mother and father were never around much anyway so their death didn't alter Lita's lifestyle that much. Her father was some investing big shot who liked who fly her mother out to Montauk on his small propeller plane he kept somewhere out in Queens. Her mother came from old oil money, a veritable Southern belle born in Baton Rouge. The two of them lived as though they were still teenagers in love, which didn't leave much time to spend with Lita. She was primarily brought up by a string of nannies, most of whom didn't speak English. As a result, Lita spoke perfect Spanish and even knew a bit of Russian.

Ken was the one constant in her life. He was the son of a wealthy business associate of her father's and they grew up together. Five years older than Lita and with no siblings of his own, he always acted as a surrogate older brother. Which made the earlier kitchen incident all the more inexcusable, in Lita's opinion. He knew how crushed she'd been when Freddy left her and how much it messed her up inside. He even knew the real reason Freddy had done it, something she'd revealed to no one else. Something she'd never reveal.

Lita was sick of feeling sullen so she splashed some cold water on her face and squeezed a few drops of Visine into her emerald-green eyes until the redness disappeared. She applied some brown eyeliner and mascara and then dusted her lids with an eye shadow called Warm Coffee. She crossed her bedroom and entered her walk-in closet, flipped on the light switch, and tapped her chin with her index finger. _Hmm, what to wear?_ she thought. As she mused, her iPhone jingled signaling that she had a text message. She unlocked the phone to find a message from Kristin, a friend whose father owned several hotels in and around the city. Lita opened the message:

_I feel like getting smashed and dancing on a bar. Patriot? _

Lita smiled and eagerly typed her reply: _You read my mind. Leaving in 30._


	5. Chapter 4: Fame

**CHAPTER FOUR: Fame**

_Thump, thump, thump!_

Her head felt like it weighed sixty pounds. _I'm never drinking again_, she vowed to herself. It was a lie she'd told herself countless times before.

_Thump, thump, thump!_

"Ugggghhhhh," she replied.

"Mina?"

"What!" she growled in response.

"Um. You have that interview with Us Weekly today, remember?"

"It's a LUNCH-time interview, Rita! Wake me up at noon."

"Um. It's about twelve-fifteen…"

_Fuck_, Mina thought. "All right, I'm getting up. Could you make me some green tea, please?"

"Sure thing, Mina. Also, I brought your white Chanel dress back from the cleaners. It's hanging up on the back of your door if you want it."

"Thanks," Mina mumbled. She surveyed the carnage. For some reason, whenever she stumbled home from whatever club or party she'd gotten wasted at, she always felt the need to trash her apartment the minute she got home. Her trail from the front door of her apartment to her bedroom was littered with the contents of her wallet and various articles of clothing. Her head pounding, she made her way into the master bathroom and examined herself in the mirror. Her light blue eyes were puffy and bloodshot and her usually golden hair looked dingy and flat. She tied it all up in a bun and stepped into the shower. _No time to wash it today._ The water came on scalding hot turning her skin bright red.

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a large, plush towel. As she scrutinized her face in the mirror she said a silent prayer of thanks to the inventor of sunglasses. _I finally get why celebrities wear sunglasses indoors_, she thought. _To hide the effects of a raging bender from the paparazzi._ That's when she noticed her cat, a Turkish Angora, all white except for a tuft of black fur in the shape of a crescent moon right on his forehead, lazing about in the empty Jacuzzi tub. Earlier that year, she'd had a skylight cut into her roof above the bath and the noonday sun poured right in. Artemis liked to bask in the sun a lot these days.

"What a life you have!" Mina remarked as she rubbed some sunscreen into her creamy skin. "Sit around all day doing nothing while SOME of us have to work!" Artemis purred in response. "You're getting fat you know." At that, Artemis picked himself up, leaped up to the top of the tub, and pounced onto the floor. He raised his nose and tail to the sky and left the bathroom in protest. Mina snorted. _Sometimes I think that cat understands me_, she thought.

Mina threw on the Chanel dress, some gladiator sandals, and a pair of Armani sunglasses.

"Mina?" called a small voice from the other side of her bedroom door.

"I'm just about ready," Mina answered as she ran a brush through her hair a few times. _This will just have to do_, she thought as she burst through the door.

Rita was holding out Mina's current favorite bag, a blue and white Badgley Mischka that she had gotten at Fashion Week the summer prior, and a to-go mug of green tea. Mina grabbed them, muttered a quick, "Thanks," and headed out the door. The elevator that opened into her living room wasn't working lately so she headed down the hall to use the main elevator. She pushed the 'L' and sighed.

There usually wasn't much elevator activity in the middle of a Wednesday as most of the tenants worked normal jobs, so Mina was caught a little off guard when the doors opened on the thirtieth floor. Flustered, she charged out into the hallway and looked around.

"Wait, this isn't right," she said.

"You're not at the lobby yet," said a young man. He had gotten on the elevator after Mina burst past him and now he held the door for her as she gathered her bearings.

"Oh! Right! Thank you!" she smiled sheepishly and went back into the elevator.

"My pleasure," he replied.

Mina stole a glance out of the corner of her eye to check the guy out. He was totally gorgeous: tall, jet-black hair, perfect physique.

"Nice sunglasses," he remarked, tapping the side of his own Armanis.

"Oh!" Mina gasped. "Thank you! I like yours too."

"Some people think it isn't worth it to pay so much for sunglasses, but I just love these."

"Oh yeah, me too," Mina agreed. "Although, I actually did a little modeling work for Armani so I got these free."

Recognition slowly spread over his face. "You're Mina Van Arsdale, aren't you?"

"Yes," she said smiling, suddenly wishing she had bothered to wash her hair that morning. Or at least put on a little makeup. "And you are?

"Darien Hunter." He stuck out his hand and she shook it eagerly. "I guess we're neighbors."

"Yeah, I guess so," Mina replied. At that, the elevator doors opened into the lobby and again, Darien held them back as Mina passed through.

"Thank you," she said.

"My pleasure," he replied. She turned to go. "Hey, listen," Darien began. "If you ever want to come down for a drink or something, I'm in 30-C."

Was he asking her out? Well, no. It was more like he was asking her in. "Sounds good, Darien," she said, and sauntered away. Seeing her coming, the doorman quickly stepped outside and stuck his arm in the air and seconds later, a yellow cab appeared.

"Thank you, Javier," said Mina, flashing a smile and ducking into the cab. She told the cab driver her destination and they were off. Mina gazed dreamily out the window while the small television installed on the back of the driver's seat flickered to life. She only half-listened to the broadcast: "…local artist Molly Baker…depicting a young heroine…claims she had magical powers…energy-sapping monster…"

An MTA bus rolled up next to them and Mina found herself staring at a larger-than-life reflection of her own face advertising her latest film, _The Lighthouse_. It was a silly romantic comedy featuring her and some up-and-coming heartthrob. It was the same old recycled storyline that ended with a big kiss and the New York City skyline in the background. She was only twenty-five and already found herself bored by her career. She was quickly becoming one of the most recognized faces in Hollywood, but the thrill was fast fading. And obligations to the press, like the one that dragged her from her slumber this very day, were the absolute worst.

"Ughhhh," she groaned as her head throbbed. She fished around in her bag for a bottle of aspirin and downed three without the aid of any water. She was a pro.

"Rita, I'm home!" Mina called dropping her bag noisily on the glass table beside her front door.

"Oh, Mina!" came Rita's voice from the office Mina had set up for her. "You got a package today. It came here instead of the agency and there's no return address. I left it on the kitchen table, but let me know if you want me to open it for you."

"That's okay," said Mina as she ambled into the kitchen to investigate. She grabbed a glass from out of the dishwasher and filled it up at the tap built into her refrigerator as she eyed the mysterious package on the counter. It was small and unassuming. The lack of return address didn't startle her as much as much as the fact that it was addressed to her private residence instead of forwarded from her agent's office as most of her fan mail was. There was no postage either. Someone had hand delivered it. Mina grabbed a knife from the silverware drawer and began to cut into the box. _I'm nowhere near famous enough for someone to send me Anthrax_, she thought. Still, she pulled the front of her dress up over her nose. _Just in case_.

She made small cuts across the tape that held the bottom of the box together and out slid a small stick, which came clattering onto the counter. Perplexed, Mina picked it up and examined it closely letting her dress fall back to its proper place. _Is it a pen?_ she wondered. She tried to press down on the top but nothing happened.

"Huh," she said. It was made of a bright, golden metallic material and had a long, slender handle and an oval-esque orb on the top. In the middle of the orb was a symbol she thought she'd seen before. "Hey, Rita?" she called as she walked over to the office. "Have you seen this symbol before?"

Rita took a close look at the small scepter and answered, "It means woman, I think."

"Neat," Mina replied and walked back to her bedroom. She tossed the stick onto her bed and started running a bath. _It's really beautiful_, she thought. _Why would someone send it to me anonymously?_ She stepped out of her dress and let it fall to the floor. She was about to stick her toe into the water when she changed her mind at the last minute, walked back into her bedroom and picked the stick up off her bed. "Shoo!" she said to Artemis, who had found the stick and started poking it with his nose. She picked it up and took it with her to the bathroom and set it down gently on the elevated tiled surface that surrounded the tub. She sunk into the water and closed her eyes.

"Mina?" came Rita's voice from the other side of her bathroom door.

"Come on in."

Rita stepped into the bathroom with a print-out in her hand. "According to Wikipedia, that symbol on the little stick also stands for the planet Venus and for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love."

"Thanks," Mina murmured. Rita nodded and exited leaving the bathroom door open, but closing the bedroom door to give Mina her privacy. _Venus_, she thought. _Goddess of love. I like that._ Mina closed her eyes again and began to drift off. Suddenly, a male voice came from thin air and Mina's eyes shot open and her head snapped to attention.

Mina peered over the side of the tub and saw no one there. No one but her cat Artemis, who was sitting regally on the floor and gazing up at her intently.

"I think it's time we had a little talk," said the voice.


	6. Chapter 5: Fire

**CHAPTER FIVE: Fire**

_Shit_, she thought as her bleary eyes struggled to open. His rhythmic breathing had startled her awake and flashes from the previous night began to pop off in her head. _Shit_. She opened one eye to sneak a peek at his motionless form. She was definitely not the type to go home with customers, especially not regulars like him. It could hurt her reputation as unobtainable. And it could create awkwardness. Awkwardness was bad for business. Besides, Greg had warned all the bartenders that sleeping with the patrons was strictly verboten.

Still. He was gorgeous, there was no denying that. Tall with jet-black hair and an icy blue-eyed stare. And in all fairness, he was the one that had been pursuing _her_ for weeks. His usual M.O. was to drop in around nine-thirty having just gotten off from his super-important investment-banking job. He'd sit alone in the corner of the bar - her corner - and wait to catch her eye. Once caught, he'd flash that sexy smile while his eyes beckoned her to come over. She was no stranger to come-ons from the customers, sober and intoxicated alike. But she'd always made a point to entertain their flirtations only so far as they'd garner her a substantial tip at the end of the night.

But there was something different about this guy and this night. Perhaps it was his perseverance. Even though she had turned down his request for a date numerous times, he never failed in his routine: sitting in her corner, ordering his vodka tonic, and telling her how great they would look together. She'd make some rude remark, flash a smile, set his drink on a napkin, and refuse, always with that same reply: _I don't date the customers._

She wasn't sure what was different this time. She had been in an exceptionally pissed off mood, even for her, and all she wanted was an hour or two away from her life. And there he was, smiling and never once taking his gaze off her. He had a way of making her feel like she was the only woman in the room. So when he asked her out for what had to be the forty-seventh time, she shocked him – and herself – by saying yes. _I think Sushi Samba might still be open_, he had suggested. But she shook her head and said she'd prefer to see the view from his terrace that he had always talked about.

When her shift ended, he hailed a cab and waited for her out on the sidewalk while she gathered her things from the back room and collected her tips. She joined him outside where the cab was waiting. He held the door and she slid in. When they arrived at his apartment, a gorgeous space on the thirtieth floor of a luxury building, it didn't take long for her clothes to find their way to the floor. _What the hell am I doing? _she thought. But it was incredible. They tore at each other with ravenous urgency. It lasted for hours until they finally collapsed, exhausted, into a heap of tangled limbs and sheets on his king-size four-poster bed.

_Can I get out of here without waking him? _she wondered. His back was to her, rising and falling slowly. Crisscrossed on his back were deep scratches where she had clawed at him the night before. _What the hell got into me?_ It was then she noticed his tattoo. She hadn't pegged him as the tattooed type. He seemed far too clean-cut for that. But there it was – an intricately-petaled rose. It began just below his left shoulder and snaked down his scapula. Etched along the vine of the rose were the words: _Sicut in caelo, et in terra._ She recognized the text as Latin but had no idea what the translation was. _Perhaps we're more alike than I thought_, she mused as she inspected her own ink just above her left hip where she had depicted two crows flying in opposite directions.

"Hey," he murmured, pulling her out of her thoughts. He reached over and put his arm around her svelte waist and pulled her closer to him. She blushed as he buried his face into the back of her neck. Her long black hair was splayed across the white pillows above their heads. "Hungry?" he asked her kissing her neck and shoulders.

"I really should get going," she protested as she wriggled from his grasp. She scooted out of his bed and dropped to her knees as she hunted around for her clothes.

"Not even coffee?" he asked. She thought she detected a note of disappointment in his voice, but she quickly dismissed it. She reached around under his bed and recovered her underwear.

"I'm not much of a coffee drinker," she lied. She slipped into her underwear and spotted her bra under his desk chair.

At this point he kicked off the sheets and swung his legs over to the side of the bed. He didn't bother looking for his boxers, but instead reached into his dresser drawer for a brand new pair. "Look," he said, not looking at her. "I'm sensing a brush off here. I'm not letting you leave without getting your number. And you can say no, but keep in mind I know where you work."

She tried to fight back a smile. It was possible she had misjudged him. Men came into her bar all the time looking for a cheap hookup. Maybe this one was different? But she wasn't looking for a boyfriend so she wasn't sure what good it would do to lead him on. On the other hand, it never hurt to have a gorgeous guy around to act as her very own on-call stress reliever.

"Hand me your phone," she said, sliding into her jeans.

He grinned and crossed the room to where she was standing. His jeans were hanging over the back of the desk chair and he reached into the back pocket and pulled out his phone while she buttoned up her shirt. She took the phone from him and punched in her name and number as she left the room. He trailed after her and when they reached the front door, he unlatched and held it open. When she held out the device for him, he pulled her in for one last kiss. Their lips parted and he murmured, "Bye, Raye."

She headed down the hall and called over her shoulder, "See you later, Darien."


	7. Chapter 6: Stars

**CHAPTER SIX: Stars**

The day was cool for early September and Amy sailed across the Brooklyn Bridge feeling high in spirits. Today was the day she'd realize the reward for her years of toiling. Even the exhaust kicked up by idling engines couldn't sway her mood. Even pedestrians ambling into the bike lane – the bane of the bicyclist's existence – couldn't bring her down. She had been working on the StarScape program since graduate school and ever since she'd sold it to CelesTech the year before, good things kept happening for her. In lieu of payment for the program, as CelesTech was a brand new company having just secured its initial funding, Amy accepted a thirty-percent share in the company. The program she had created was generating significant buzz in both the technology and aerospace fields and they had recently been offered eighteen million dollars to sell the company to a major international corporation called Galaxia. As far as Amy knew, Galaxia had its hand in many different industries, but the one that concerned her was its space exploration division.

When Amy rolled into lower Manhattan, she chained her bike to a street lamp and gazed up at the towering behemoth that was Miller-Conway Towers. She unclipped her helmet, slung it under her arm, and made her way through the lobby and up to the twenty-seventh floor where the CelesTech offices were.

"Morning!" said Amy, cheerfully greeting Rose, the receptionist.

"Oh good morning, Miss Anderson," said Rose. "Mr. Lawson is expecting you. He said you can go right into his office."

"Thanks so much, Rose," Amy called over her shoulder as she pushed through the heavy glass doors that led into the main offices. Amy traversed the office past cubes of young twenty-somethings working on complicated-looking projects on their computers. She ably located the corner office and waltzed right in.

"Amy!" cried Sam Lawson, leaping from his chair. At twenty-three he was the founder and executive officer of CelesTech and two years Amy's junior. He embraced her in a warm hug and gestured for her to have a seat.

"So what's this all about?"

"Amy, I'll just cut to the chase here. I just got off the phone with our banker, Darien Hunter. As you know, he's been working with the buy side bankers on this deal. Well apparently, after some extensive testing on the StarScape program, they found a bug. The deal is tabled until we fix it."

Amy was astonished. "A…bug?" she stammered. "But that's…that's impossible."

"Look, it isn't a big deal. We're just going to all have a little meeting later this afternoon and discuss it. They'll show you what they found, you fix it, we sell the company, we make millions, we live happily ever after, okay?"

Amy frowned. "All right," she conceded slowly. "Did they say what kind of bug?"

Sam shook his head. "No, not really. To be honest, I don't think they really knew what exactly the bug was or I'm sure they'd have fixed it themselves. They've got programmers over there who've been with the company since the seventies and I think it really bothers them that someone as young as you designed this program and someone as young as me owns it. All they said was that StarScape shows some kind of anomaly in Sector Twelve. Some kind of space distortion."

"Hm." Amy furrowed her brow and mulled for a while. She hated to be arrogant, but she knew there were no bugs in that program. She devoted so much of her life to it, she was sure she'd have noticed a long time ago if something were amiss.

"Come on. Let's go to lunch," Sam said pulling on his jacket.

Once outside, Sam tried to engage in small talk. "So how's life, Amy? Any big plans for when you're living on easy street?"

Amy chuckled. "Not really. I was thinking of maybe going back to school."

"School!" Sam exclaimed. "What the hell for? You're already probably the youngest person in history ever to attain double doctorate degrees in computer science and aerospace engineering. What do you need more school for?"

"I'm happiest when I'm learning," Amy admitted, running a hand through her spiky blue hair. Sam shook his head.

"I'll never understand that mentality. I couldn't get out of college fast enough."

"Harvard will do that to a person, I understand," Amy said smiling.

"Don't even get started on that Harvard-Yale crap," Sam warned. "Because I honestly do not care. I don't think I ever once went to that football game."

"Me either!" Amy cried. "I thought I was the only one! Anyway, I was thinking of going back and getting a medical degree."

Clouds had momentarily obscured the sun and Amy felt a little chilly. As she zipped up her denim jacket, she thought about buying a five-dollar scarf as she passed a vendor with a table set up on the sidewalk. Her eyes moved quickly over his wares, but she soon lost interest as she set her gaze upon the next vendor, an artist. Her paintings all depicted the same subject: a beautiful girl with flowing blond hair bedecked in a sailor suit. In some paintings the subject was alone and gazing off into the moonlight, in others she was engaged in what looked like a harrowing battle with some kind of hideous monster.

"Sam, just one sec," said Amy as she lingered to inspect the paintings. "She's an interesting subject," she remarked to the artist, a small girl with bright chestnut eyes and shoulder-length reddish-brown hair.

"I can't get her out of my head," the artist replied in a thick Brooklyn accent. "She's real, ya know."

Amy raised an eyebrow.

"I know," said the artist with a sigh. "It sounds crazy."

Usually Amy knew better than to engage strangers on the streets of New York, but something about the girl in the paintings struck something inside her. Amy was overcome with a feeling – something like familiarity, as if she knew this strange, sailor-suited heroine.

"How much for this one?" Amy said, pointing to a depiction of the figure standing in the foreground gazing up at the moon with the wind tousling her hair in an easterly direction. Sam snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Twenty," the artist replied eagerly. Amy stuck her hand into her pocket and fished out some bills. When the transaction was completed, the artist wrapped the work in a cloth and placed it in a plain brown shopping bag. "Oh," she added, dropping a small card into the bag, "here's my business card in case you want another. They make great gifts, too!"

Amy smiled and accepted the parcel. She thanked the artist and continued on her way with Sam.

"Sushi?" said Sam as they passed a restaurant called Ise. Inside the restaurant, the blue-haired girl looked quite out of place among the suits, but she wasn't bothered. She was quite used to being the strange one.

"Sam, Amy, so good to see you again," said Darien Hunter, greeting the two as they entered the office of Diamond Partners. "Please follow me to the conference room."

Sam and Amy did as they were told. Once in the conference room, Amy was disappointed to see that the representatives from Galaxia were already there. She was hoping she'd have a minute or two to pop by Ken's office and say hello. They had been dating pretty regularly since CelesTech first became clients of Diamond Partners and they'd first met. He was definitely not her usual type, very much all-business, but she could tell he had a kind heart.

Handshakes were exchanged all around and the programmer from Galaxia pulled out his laptop and immediately got down to business. "If you'll notice here when I pull up the Sector Twelve map, you see this mass of distortion. I've looked through all the algorithms and they appear correct so there must be a problem with the underlying code."

Amy narrowed her eyes and, without asking, pulled the laptop in front of her and looked at the screen. There it was, plain as day, a significant distortion in space. Amy sighed and began tapping away at the keys. She scanned the algorithms and as the Galaxia programmer had said, they all appeared accurate, but to be sure, she'd have to go through them one by one. Scanning the source code would be time-consuming and labor intensive so she wanted to avoid that at all costs.

"How much time do I have?" Amy asked.

The Galaxia executives glanced at each other and shorter, balder one replied: "Why don't we just circle back in a week and see where we are?"

Amy sighed again and nodded. It was going to be a late night. The teams said their goodbyes, exchanged handshakes again, and Amy slipped out of the conference room to find Ken. When she came to his office, she found him staring at charts and graphs in Excel as if in a trance. When he saw her, his face broke out into a grin. He stood to hug her and Amy smiled as she inhaled the almost-but-not-quite faded scent of his aftershave.

"How's it going?" he asked her. She shrugged.

"This problem with my program seems legit, even though I can't wrap my head around it."

"Well, between you and me, they want this program bad enough that I don't think a little bug is going to sour the deal. They might try to come down on price over it, but Darien's pretty good at being an asshole, so I wouldn't worry about it." Ken was doing his best to reassure her, but Amy wasn't moved. She was sure that her program had been perfect. Now it seemed as though she was just being arrogant.

"All right, I won't worry." Amy managed a smile. "Oh!" she said, suddenly remembering. "I want to show you something!" She had left her newly-purchased piece of art in the conference and headed back to get it. Darien was still in there cleaning up from the meeting. "Sorry," said Amy. "I just left my bag in here." Darien smiled and nodded. "Oh, is Sam still here?" she asked.

"No," Darien replied. "He said something about visiting his sister who works in the area or something."

"Ah," said Amy and she went around the table to where she'd been sitting and retrieved her bag. She shot Darien a quick smile and moved toward the doorway. She didn't see the telephone wire cutting across her path and when she tripped, her bag went flying and she tumbled to the ground.

"Oh man, are you all right?" said Darien, coming toward her. He extended a hand and picked her up. "Nothing broken?" Amy blushed and shook her head. _How embarrassing_, she thought.

Darien turned and bent down to retrieve her artwork which had fallen out of the bag and was now only partly covered by the protective cloth. When he picked it up, Amy noticed his face had suddenly turned ashen as he looked upon the image.

"Where did you get this?" he asked her, his voice quaking.

"Um," Amy began. "A girl was selling them on the street. Over by Ise."

At that, Darien pushed the painting back into Amy's arms and hurried out of the room. Amy peered out of the doorway and saw he was now in the elevator bank agitatedly jabbing at the Lobby button. _I wonder what his hurry is?_

"There you are," said Ken, coming around the corner. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, nothing," Amy replied. "I just had a little bit of inner ear trouble. Look!" She pushed the painting toward Ken and he gave it the once over.

"Very nice," he said. "So what are you doing later?"

"I guess I'm dissecting StarScape to see where I screwed up," Amy replied sullenly.

"Well, you shouldn't do that on an empty stomach. Come get drinks after work. Lita's coming down and I want you to meet her. And I want her to meet Andrew. I think they'd really hit it off."

"I thought you and Lita were in a fight?" Amy asked. She had heard about Lita since the day she and Ken started dating. At first she felt a little jealous, especially when she noticed the framed picture of the two of them adorning his desk, but on their third date he explained how they grew up together and how he thought of her as his little sister. He also told her the story about the time when Lita was eighteen and he was twenty-two when he tried to kiss her and she ended up giving him two black eyes. _In any event_, he'd said, _you can't get too romantic about someone who can beat you up._ So Amy was excited to meet Lita, if a little intimidated.

"Eh, she's over it. She can't stay mad at me too long, she doesn't have it in her. Anyway, I showed Andrew this picture of her and he's been bugging me for weeks to set it up. So can you do it?"

Amy smiled. "All right. But just one drink. Call me when you're ready to go, I'll be in the neighborhood." Amy gave Ken a quick kiss on the lips, gathered her things, and left the office. She planned to hole up in a Starbucks until happy hour and figure out what was going on with her program. Once outside, she turned the corner and proceeded down the street. She wasn't walking more than five minutes before she discovered a Starbucks. The girl manning the register looked tortured but greeted Amy with a smile when she noticed her.

"Hi there!" she said. "What can I make for you?"

Amy purchased a Venti iced chai latte and set up her laptop in a corner by the window and delved into her program.

"Let's see, let's see," she murmured. She began with the algorithms and checked over each one. After convincing herself they were perfect, she opened up the source code and scanned line after line for errors. She installed a macro that automated this task, but it still took hours. When all that was left in her cup was a few melted ice cubes, Amy was ready to give up when suddenly an idea struck her. _What if_, she thought, _what if the program _is_ perfect?_ She paused a moment to let the idea sink in. _That would mean…that the distortion in space is real_. Amy looked up from her computer excitedly. She looked around the shop, but it was empty, save for the doe-eyed blond at the register who was picking at a scratch wound on her forearm. _It's real!_ The more she said it to herself, the more plausible it began to sound. But what in the world could be causing such massive distortion?

Amy wracked her brain for solutions when suddenly her phone vibrated to life. She had a message from Ken: _We're ready to go. Meet Bobby Van's in 5. DH is coming. Wants to talk to you abt something. :X_

Amy sighed and began to pack up her computer. Her breakthrough would have to wait.


	8. Chapter 7: Sweet

**CHAPTER SEVEN: Sweet**

Lita hated everything about New York's financial district. A thick fog of smugness always seemed to hang stagnant in the air down there. Everywhere she looked, a sea of black suits trudged along like drones oblivious to all but their own importance. Nevertheless, she found herself wending her way through the maze of streets connected by no semblance of logic. After what seemed like hours of aimless wandering, she saw the sign for Bobby Van's unceremoniously tucked under a bridge of scaffolding. _Why is New York never finished being built?_ she wondered. She pushed her way into the bar and immediately set about looking for Ken. Before she got too far, a rather large man wearing all black stopped her.

"May I see your I.D., miss?" he asked politely. Lita was taken aback. She couldn't remember the last time someone made her show I.D. She'd been waltzing into New York nightclubs like she owned them ever since she was sixteen. She fished around in her bag and pulled out a slick red leather Coach wallet.

"Here you go," she said, and turned over the small, laminated New York license. He inspected it for about six seconds and then handed it back thanking her. Lita spotted Ken just then and made her way over to the corner where he was sitting facing her. He had his arm around a tiny, blue haired punk-looking girl who looked quite out of place sipping Pabst Blue Ribbon straight from the can. Ken noticed her then and smiled waving her over. The blond, broad-shouldered man sitting across from them turned and Lita couldn't stop herself from gawking. He had that clean-cut, All-American look she adored and he stood up to greet her as she approached.

"Hi," he said, sticking his hand out. "I'm Andrew Cameron."

"Lita Miller," she cooed as she gripped his hand in hers. Andrew remained standing, pulled out Lita's chair and gestured for her to have a seat. She slid into the seat, cocked her head to the side, and flashed him her highly-practiced _don't-you-think-I'm-so-pretty_ smile.

"Lita," said Ken, "this is Amy Anderson."

Now in a great mood, Lita tore herself away from Andrew's visage and politely shook Amy's hand. "I've heard a lot about you," she said. "Congratulations on the success of StarScape. It sounds like fascinating program." There wasn't an ounce of sarcasm or hostility in Lita's voice; she could be very charming when she wanted to be.

Amy blushed and looked at her hands which were both wrapped around her beer can. "Oh, thank you," she said. "It really isn't a big deal. In fact, I can't stay too late tonight because I need to fix a serious flaw in the coding."

"I'm sure it'll all be fine," said Lita, reaching across the table for the drink menu.

"Oh, Lita, I hope you don't mind," said Andrew, "But I ordered you a Tropical Thunder. Ken said you liked those fruity drinks."

Lita grinned and put the menu down. She thought she detected a hint of a Southern accent. "That's really nice of you, Andrew, thank you." Not a minute later, the waitress came by with her drink, a towering green concoction in a ridiculously oversized glass with a straw and two umbrellas sticking out of it.

"You look like a little kid drinking that," Ken teased her. Lita shrugged her shoulders.

"Is that Darien?" Amy suddenly piped up. Lita looked over her shoulder and her stomach dropped. A tall, dark figure in a long black trench coat made his way through the crowd toward them. Those eyes were unmistakable. _Oh my God_, Lita thought.

"Hey, gang," said Darien.

"Darien, this is my friend Lita," said Ken, gesturing toward her. Lita willed herself to meet his eyes and when she did, she saw his eyes widen with recognition. Her cheeks burned and she was desperate to crawl under the table and stay there until he was gone. A slow smile formed at Darien's lips and she prayed he wouldn't say anything to humiliate her in front of Andrew.

"Lita," he said taking her hand. "A pleasure." He released her hand and shot her a knowing look.

Ken looked at them both quizzically. "Do you guys know each other?"

_Thank you, Ken, for being the most socially oblivious person in the universe_, Lita thought as she began to dream up various ways to murder him while making it look like an accident.

"Um," Lita stammered, praying for a meteor to tear through the roof to give them something else to talk about.

"We met the other night," said Darien, still looking her over.

Ken raised his eyebrows and Lita took a long sip from her Tropical Thunder. _Perhaps I'll get the next one with a shot of arsenic._

"Uh, Darien," Amy said suddenly. "Ken said there was something you wanted to ask me?"

Lita looked up at Amy gratefully.

"Oh, yeah," said Darien. "This might sound a little weird, but I was wondering if you had any more information about that artist? The one that did that painting you brought to the office today?"

"Yeah, sure," Amy replied. "I actually think I have her card in here somewhere." Amy reached under the table into her bag and pulled out a small card. Reading from it she said, "Molly Baker. No address, just an email and phone number." She handed Darien the card, which he inspected eagerly. "You can keep it if you want," Amy offered.

"Thanks so much, Amy, I appreciate it!" He stuffed the card in his inside jacket pocket and grinned. "Well, kids, nice seeing you all. I've got to get going."

"See you later, Darien," said Andrew.

Lita exhaled. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. She looked up at Amy who was raising her beer to her mouth. Just before the aluminum met her lips, she looked directly at Lita and winked. Lita smiled, grateful to her new friend for bringing a swift end to what had the potential to be a terrifyingly awkward scene.

"So, Lita," said Andrew, blissfully unaware of the fast fading tension. "Ken tells me you're born and raised in New York?"

"I am," Lita replied. "Upper east side. And yourself?"

"I'm originally from a little town in South Carolina, but I came up to this area for college. I played a little football and…" Andrew kept talking, but Lita's attention span drifted from his words and resettled on his mouth. His lips were full – not too full – and perfect for kissing. His teeth were white and squarish and his voice made her want him to tell her bedtime stories. She pictured him in a black tuxedo standing up on an altar as she slowly made her way toward him in a flowing, white Melissa Sweet gown. An aria sung by Andrea Bocelli filled her ears. _Mrs. Lita Cameron. Mrs. Andrew Cameron. Mrs. Lita Elizabeth Cameron. Mrs. Lita Miller-Cameron._

"…hope to move back down South someday."

"I love the South," Lita interjected. "My grandparents live in Louisiana. I used to go down there for a few weeks every summer and they'd do a big crawfish boil. My grandma used to let me help her in the kitchen."

"Lita's an amazing cook," said Ken, helpfully.

"Maybe we could all get together for a dinner party some night soon?" Amy suggested. Lita beamed. _I like her a lot!_

"That's a great idea! Andrew, what do you think?"

"You don't have to ask me twice," he replied grinning from ear to ear.

_Ken has amazing taste in men_, Lita mused. _Must tease him about that later._

"It was so nice meeting you," said Amy warmly as she gathered her bags and stood up. "But I'm afraid I have to get back to work." Ken stood up and kissed Amy.

Lita hopped up at that moment and said, "I'll walk you out!" Ken shrugged, sat back down, and he and Andrew immediately got into a heated discussion about the prospect of the Jets' upcoming football season. Lita looped her arm through Amy's and the two made their way through the bar and out onto the street.

"I just wanted to thank you for earlier," Lita said looking down at the almost elfin girl.

"Oh, no problem," said Amy. "I could tell there was something going on there."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is," said Lita, not at all sure that Amy did know how it was. She threw her arms around Amy and embraced her tightly. "Let's hang out again soon," she commanded.

"I'd like that," said Amy smiling. She turned to go and Lita trounced back into the bar. When she reached the bar, Ken and Andrew both stood up.

"I've got to go," said Ken. "I'm going to head back to the office and work on a few things. You kids have fun now." He kissed Lita's cheek and hastily exited the bar looking satisfied with his matchmaking abilities. Again, Andrew pulled out Lita's seat and they quickly resumed their conversation. Lita made sure to touch his arm playfully and reach up and twirl a lock of her hair at appropriate intervals. They remained at the bar for about two hours before Lita said she had to be getting home.

"All right," said Andrew. "Let me put you in a cab." He offered her his arm, which she eagerly accepted and the two strolled out of the bar and onto the abandoned street. It was getting late and the financial district was a ghost town. He escorted her to Broadway where it would be easier to find a taxi at this hour. The stood at the corner of Broadway and Exchange Place and waited. "Lita, the New York Philharmonic is giving a concert next week at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Have you ever been there?"

Lita swooned. "No, I haven't. I heard it's beautiful though."

"It really is. Would you like to go next Friday with me?"

Before Lita could answer, the sound of shattering glass ripped through the air and echoed off the sides of the towering buildings lining Broadway. "What was that!" Lita exclaimed.

Andrew frowned and said, "I'm not sure." They looked around and waited to hear the noise again. Nothing.

Lita shrugged. "Just New York noise I guess!" A cab came sailing down Broadway at this point and Andrew stuck his arm in the air. "Anyway," said Lita, as the cab approached, "I'd love to go see the Philharmonic with you. Ken has my number." Andrew grinned and held the door open for her. As she slid in and gave the driver her address, she noticed Andrew hand the driver a few bills. _Wow_, she thought. She couldn't remember the last time a guy paid her cab fare when sex wasn't imminent. _This one's a keeper._

Lita smiled and leaned back contentedly in her seat. She rolled down the window and enjoyed the breeze that hit her face as the taxi glided up FDR Drive.

She ignored the television that sputtered the latest city news:

"Scooter Collins, a local homeless man, described two young women fleeing the scene dressed in skimpy sailor outfits," crooned the anchor, sounding skeptical. "'I seen them runnin'. They was runnin' like mad, like they did somethin' wrong.' 'What did they look like?' 'Young girls, skinny. One of 'em had long yellow hair down past her waist like this. Other one had short, spiky blue hair like one a dem girls in those punk bands you see.' 'Thank you, Mr. Collins. If you have any information on the act of vandalism committed at this downtown Starbucks that left the place virtually destroyed, please call our tip line. Back to you in the studio, Kevin.'"

But Lita didn't hear any of this. Her thoughts had drifted back the Melissa Sweet ball gown with the diagonally draped bodice and the skirt adorned with silk petal embellishments.


	9. Chapter 8: Mission

**CHAPTER EIGHT: Mission**

Sun poured through her bedroom windows and tugged at Serena's eyelids. After the crazy dream she'd had the night before with the monster and the cat and the tiara-throwing, she planned to sleep the day away. It was Saturday and Serena therefore had two glorious days in which to do anything or nothing. It was a beautiful thing. Serena smiled and turned over onto her stomach to get in another few hours of slumber.

"Ahem," came a small voice. Serena's heart started to race. Someone is in my apartment! She wracked her brain to try and remember where she kept the mace her father bought for her when she first moved to the city. _Oh, that's right_, she remembered, _I lost it about a week later._

"Serena," the voice said, more agitated this time. Clutching her pillow so tightly her knuckles turned white, Serena slowly rose from her bed. There, making itself quite at home in the middle of the room, was the black cat!

Tears started to well up in Serena's eyes. "I'm losing my mind," she wailed. "I've gone crazy and now I'm seeing cat stalkers!"

"Serena, this will go a lot easier if you just be quiet and listen to me," said the cat calmly.

Serena noticed the scratches on her arms, which were beginning to inflame. Strangely, they reassured her as she did not think it possible that she was hallucinating injuries as well.

"For starters," the cat began, "my name is Luna. I have been looking for you a long time. You are not an ordinary girl, Serena. You were sent here with a very special mission."

At this, Serena decided to speak up: "Sent here from where, may I ask?"

"From a thousand years ago. You were a part of the Moon Kingdom. A soldier, to be precise. You were one of five protectors of the Moon Kingdom. But one day, a terrible evil broke into our universe and destroyed the civilizations of all the planets. Everyone was killed except for the Queen of the Moon. Using her Silver Crystal, she sent all the inhabitants of the empire to the future to be reborn here on Earth. You, and many others, are among those sent. But the spell cast by the Queen could only trap the evil for so long and now it has resurfaced. You are meant to stop it."

"Evil? What kind of evil?"

"The worst evil humanity has ever known. She destroyed every civilization of the Silver Moon Empire once before and she'll try to do it again."

"She who?"

"Her name is Beryl. She fancies herself the Queen of the Negaverse."

"What's a Negaverse?"

"It's a universe parallel to our own filled with evil. That's a long story in its own right and I'll tell you someday, but what you need to know for the present is that Beryl wants the Silver Crystal. If she gets it, all is lost."

"Well, where is it?"

Luna cast her gaze to the floor and shook her head. "I don't know. My sources tell me that we must find the Moon Princess and she will lead us to the Crystal. The Crystal is vital to our mission."

"Moon Princess?"

"Yes, Queen Serenity had a daughter on the Moon. She cherished her more than anything. It is said that when the Moon Princess is found, the Crystal will be revealed."

Serena didn't say anything for a while. Finally, she spoke up: "What is it, exactly, that you expect me to do?"

Luna exhaled a short breath of air. "Why, fulfill your destiny, of course!"

"I'll tell you right now," Serena said firmly, "if my 'destiny' involves more of those lobster maniacs chasing after me, you can count me out."

Luna's purple eyes narrowed. "Serena, you are Sailor Moon, whether you like it or not. Fighting the Negaverse is something you must do if for no other reason than you are the only one who can!" Serena was unmoved. Luna softened: "You will have help, Serena. There are others."

"What others?"

"The other soldiers of the Moon Kingdom. I haven't found them yet, but I feel they will be revealed soon. You will be a team."

Serena sighed. "I'm sorry, cat, but this all sounds so made up. And even if it wasn't, I'm telling you, you got the wrong girl. I'm not special, I never have been. I'm completely ordinary and I have been my whole life. There's no special destiny out there for me."

Luna's eyes twinkled and she giggled. "Ah, but you're wrong, Serena. I know you feel that you're completely unremarkable, but you have incredible powers within you."

Serena flopped back onto her bed. Luna nimbly leapt up and began pawing at Serena's feet. "I know this is a lot to take in," she said soothingly. "But it will start to make sense."

"Whatever," Serena muttered as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and got up. Her studio was cramped, uncomfortable, and ridiculously overpriced, but it was all hers and therefore felt like a heavenly palace. She shuffled over to the kitchen area and swung open her cabinet. Lining the shelves from front to back were rows and rows of Starbucks coffee. She'd been stealing bags of the stuff pretty much ever since she'd started working there and now had enough coffee to last her through a nuclear winter should the need arise. Normally, stealing wasn't something she would condone, but she felt the daily onslaught her pervert of a boss subjected her to entitled her to help herself to a bag of freshly ground French Roast here and there. She dumped a few capfuls of coffee into the filter of her four-cup machine and watched as the machine gurgled to life.

"What are you planning to do today?" Luna spoke up from the comfort of Serena's pillow.

"I really wish you wouldn't get your cat hair all over my pillow," Serena grumbled in response.

Luna ignored her. "Maybe you and a friend could go to the park and throw a Frisbee around."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Serena said with mock enthusiasm. "And after that, we could go smoke some pot out on the Quad and then go to a poetry reading in the Student Union! Oh wait, I forgot. I'm _not_ a college freshman."

"No need to be sarcastic, Serena," said Luna, sounding offended.

Serena sighed and padded back over to her bed. She sat down cross-legged and lightly scratched Luna behind her ear. "I'm sorry, Luna. I don't mean to be mean. This is all just a little weird for me."

"I understand," said Luna, soothingly.

"I'm going to hop in the shower and then go out and get some cat supplies." For the first time all morning, Serena smiled. She scooted into the bathroom and pulled her nightgown – an old Metallica t-shirt left at her place by an old boyfriend who fancied himself a musician – over her head and let it fall to the floor. She gingerly stepped into the shower and turned both faucets so that a mix of hot and cold blasted her skin. She squeezed the last of her shampoo into her palm and lathered her masses of golden-blond hair. As she washed, she let her mind drift.

Later that week, Serena found herself working the late shift and bored out of her mind. After the three o'clock caffeine rush, the place was dead, and yet Melvin insisted on keeping it open till eleven. She knew she shouldn't complain since she needed as many hours as she could get, but the boredom was suffocating sometimes. Melvin always made sure that his schedule mimicked hers, but this afternoon he was holed up in the back office. He had hacked his way around the Internet firewalls, presumably to access pornography, and hadn't been seen since earlier that afternoon.

Suddenly the front door opened and a customer came in. Serena snapped to attention. "Sammy!" she called, happily.

"Hey, sis," said Sam, as he headed toward her. She leaned over the counter to give him a quick hug. When they were younger, they tortured each other, but once Serena was out of their parents' house, they learned to appreciate one another. Serena moved to New York the first chance she got thinking she'd discover her passion and live a fulfilling and glamorous lifestyle. But the glitz of New York eluded her and her computer genius brother sailed through Harvard in three years. She had no bitterness toward his success and when he helped her out, as he often did, it wasn't with any sense of superiority or pride.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked him as she turned away and blended his favorite drink, a caramel macchiato with whipped cream.

"I had a meeting down the street with my banker and the buyers. Just thought I'd stop in and say hi. How're you doing?"

"I'm having the weirdest week, Sammy," Serena admitted. "But things are okay."

"Glad to hear it. Mom's been bugging me about Thanksgiving already."

"Same here," said Serena. "I told her it's two months away and she wants to know if I'm bringing a 'special someone.'" Serena rolled her eyes and Sam chuckled. "I guess she figures if I'm not going to have some great career, I need to settle down and start making babies."

"Much as I'd love to be an uncle, I can't really see you with a bunch of brats running around."

"Amen!" Serena agreed, and handed him his drink. He reached inside his wallet, but she brushed his hand away.

"All right, sis, I better get back to the office. I'll see you soon." Sam collected his drink and took a sip. "Yum!" he called over his shoulder as he pushed his way out the door.

Serena smiled. It was good to see her brother. She leaned forward on the counter and rested her chin in her palms. She saw that the tip mug had a bill in there she hadn't noticed before. She reached in and pulled out a crisp one hundred dollar bill. "Sammy," she murmured.

Hours later, Serena was ready to close up shop early. Melvin had left earlier, citing a "hot date," (which Serena had interpreted to mean a cozy night in with his right hand), and Serena was sure no one would be coming into the Starbucks this late in the evening. No sooner had she reached for the store keys than the door jingled open and the blue-haired pixie girl from earlier bounded in. Serena forced a smile and sighed. The customer set up her computer and Serena abandoned all hopes for packing it in early. The laptop people never stayed less than two hours. After the computer hummed to life, the girl shuffled up to the counter and ordered a grande coffee black. Serena handed her the order and sat back down on the stool she had dragged in from the back room. Baristas weren't supposed to sit in front of the customers, but with Melvin gone, Serena couldn't care less about the rules. She looked over at the blue-haired punk who pounded furiously away at the computer_. She looks intense_, Serena thought. _I wonder if she's one of those World of Warcraft junkies. _

Serena decided to take a quick break and ducked outside for a bit of air. Just then, Luna emerged from the shadows: "Serena!"

Serena nearly jumped out of her skin. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," said Luna.

"What are you doing here?" Serena demanded.

"I always follow you to work," said Luna, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"It's getting chilly out here, aren't you cold?" Without waiting for an answer, Serena scooped Luna up and carried her back into the shop. The lone customer didn't even look up. Serena put Luna down in the back room. "Stay here, okay? I'm sure this is some kind of health code violation." Luna purred. Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass came from the front of the store. Serena rushed back out to see the small blue-haired girl covering her head with her arms. Small shards were everywhere. And the girl was not alone. A towering, muscular beast with a garnet body covered in sharp spines hulked toward her.

"Holy shit," Serena gasped. "Not again!"

The beast gripped the girl's throat and shoved her face into her computer screen. "Such a pretty life force you have," it growled. The girl's face was frozen in terror. She couldn't move, couldn't scream.

Serena dropped to the floor. "What do I do, what do I do!" she cried.

Luna tore out of the back room. "Transform!" she hissed. Serena shook her head no. Luna raised a paw and extended her claws.

"Fine, fine!" Serena acquiesced. "Moon prism power," she whispered.

Back in her sailor suit, Serena timidly faced the monster. "Leave her alone," she said cautiously. The beast didn't acknowledge her but focused on her victim.

"I _said_," Serena tried again at a slightly higher volume. "Get off of her!"

"This doesn't concern you," the beast snarled as it dug its talons into the girl's head. Just then, a bright blue light emanated from the girl herself.

"What is this!" the monster growled as a symbol began to take shape on her victim's forehead. Serena tiptoed closer to get a better look.

"Mercury!" Luna cried, and she bounded over toward the girl and took cover under her chair.

"You asked for it!" Serena shouted and she brought her fingertips to her forehead. "Moon tiara…MAGIC!" She hurled her disc straight toward the monster. But to Serena's horror, the monster merely looked directly at her and pawed the tiara away. Like a boomerang, it came sailing back toward Serena. She shrieked and hit the ground. The tiara clattered to the floor. The monster released the blue-haired girl from its grip and took steps toward Serena who cowered on the floor.

"Please don't hurt me!" she begged. Serena noticed Luna leap onto the girl's lap and begin speaking into her hear, although she couldn't hear what was said.

Meanwhile, the beast was getting closer to Serena. She tried to back away, but was thwarted when she hit the wall. The beast bent down and picked Serena up by her collar, and threw her over the counter and into the shelf of bagged coffee. Her body fell to the ground and gourmet coffee beans scattered all around her. She quivered in terror as the beast leaned over and took a good long look at her.

"Mercury bubble BLAST!"

The shop quickly filled with a thick and icy fog.

"Show yourselves!" the monster commanded. Serena found her tiara and scrambled to her feet. What just happened?

Serena gasped as the monster looked in her direction, but it quickly looked away. Serena could see it perfectly, but the way it shuffled around so confused led Serena to believe it couldn't see her. She furrowed her brow and resolved to try her tiara again.

"Moon tiara," she whispered, as the tiara transformed into a shining, golden disc, "MAGIC!" She cast the disc straight at the monster, who was shuffling around and knocking chairs over. The disc tore through the flesh of the beast and, just like the last one, it disappeared into a pile of fine dust.

Soon, the fog dissipated and Serena found herself face to face with the blue-haired girl, but gone were her jeans and t-shirt. In their place was a sailor suit quite similar to her own, only in shades of blue.

"Hi," Serena said to her companion. "Did that fog come out of you?"

"I…I think so," said the girl in blue. She looked around at the carnage in disbelief.

"Nice," said Serena appreciatively. She stepped over broken chairs and shattered glass and extended her hand to her new friend. "I'm Serena. Or…well, Sailor Moon."

The girl accepted Serena's hand and replied: "Amy. And I just learned that I'm also…Sailor Mercury."

"It is most delightful to have found you, Mercury," said Luna, who was now perched on top of the counter.

"I'm still not clear how it is you're able to talk," said Amy, still looking a bit dazed.

"Yes, yes, we'll go over all that later," said Luna. "For now, I think you two had better get out of here before the police come."

Serena didn't have to be told twice. She grabbed her backpack and headed for the door. "Come on, Amy! We can go to my house and talk." Amy packed up her laptop, which was now sporting a web-like set of cracks in the screen and the two dashed out the door and down Broadway into the night.


	10. Chapter 9: Denial

**CHAPTER NINE: Denial**

Mina looked haggard and wan as she sat at her dining room table clutching a mug of hot coffee so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Her normally sky-blue eyes were dull and bloodshot. She hadn't slept in four nights. She had missed six promotional interviews for her latest movie and her agent was calling her nonstop. Rita was begging Mina to see a doctor so much that Mina had to give her a mandatory vacation from her assistant's duties.

It had been four days since her cat started talking to her and Mina became convinced she was suffering some kind of fame-induced nervous breakdown. She was very familiar with co-stars of films past suddenly checking into the hospital for "exhaustion," which she had always assumed was code for "detox," but a whole new sense of sympathy had suddenly come over her for her fallen colleagues. Were they hearing talking cats as well? Mina would never know.

After he spoke to her, Mina, scared out of her wits, had leapt from the bathtub and tore out of the bathroom slamming the door behind her. She stood on the other side of the door naked and dripping wet and brought her fingers to her neck to feel her pulse. When she regained her breath, she threw on a robe and sat on the floor of her walk-in closet trying to figure out her next move. After sitting in conference with herself for about ten minutes, Mina had convinced herself that she imagined the whole thing, that the stress of work had finally gotten to her and she snapped. She assured herself that it was a momentary departure from reality but now she was grounded again.

Firm in her resolve, she stood up and crossed her bedroom to the master bath, determined to face her cat. With her hand gripping the knob, that familiar male voice spoke up again: "Mina," he had said exasperatedly. "Let me out of here, we really need to talk."

_Okay_, Mina thought. _I'm still in my delusion. Back to the closet._ This time, she closed herself inside the closet and crouched in the corner with her head between her knees. Ten minutes passed. Silence. Mina began to have a flashback.

She was six years old and sitting in her closet clutching Marley the Bear tightly to her chest and gnawing nervously on the scarlet ribbon tied around his neck. They were fighting again. They didn't bother to hush their voices for her benefit and the closet was the only place she had some success in blocking out the shouting and profanity. But even with her tiny hands covering them, bits and pieces of the invective made their way to her ears.

…_treating her like a show dog!_

…_if _you_ made more money!_

…_spending it on designer shit!_

…_have nice things for once!_

And the front door slammed. Moments later, the truck started up and peeled out of the driveway. Mina sprang from the closet and ran to her bedroom window which overlooked the street. He was speeding away from her. Her chest tightened and hot tears pricked her eyes. They always fought, but it was the first time he'd actually left. Fortunately, he'd come back again. Unfortunately, he'd leave again and the pattern would continue well into her early teens until one day, he'd leave for good.

Mina lifted her head. She was back in the present, but still cowering in the closet. She crawled slowly toward the door and, still on the carpet, pushed lightly. She paused and listened. Nothing. She stood up and took a few tentative steps toward her bathroom again.

"Mina. If you don't open this door right now, I'm going to destroy all your towels."

That was it. Mina spun on her heels and ran out of her bedroom. She crashed into Rita in the hallway.

"Are you all right?" Rita asked looking concerned. "You're pale as a ghost."

"He's going to eat my towels!" Mina exclaimed. And with that, she dashed into Rita's office and locked the door behind her.

And there Mina remained for close to four hours. Rita was terribly worried, but Mina refused to let her call anybody and instead sent her home. When finally Mina's hunger and desire to use the bathroom forced her out of the closet, Rita was gone and Mina couldn't hear anything coming from the master bathroom. She used the hall bathroom and then made herself a turkey sandwich. As she sat at the dining room table her mind drifted to the Hope Rehabilitation Center just outside San Diego, California. It was really popular among celebrities who went there for myriad reasons, be it detox or just a break from the constant haranguing of the paparazzi. _Maybe I'll book a room_, Mina thought. Just then, a tortured yowl came from the direction of her bedroom and Mina jumped. She tiptoed back into her bedroom and pressed her ear to the bathroom door.

"Um. Yes?" she asked.

"How long are you going to keep me in here, Mina! I'm starving and it's time for dinner!"

Mina thought for a moment and shuffled back to the kitchen. She glanced at the ceramic double-bowl she bought at a handmade craft stand on the Santa Monica Pier with _Artemis_ painted on it in blue. _Hm, that won't work_, she concluded. She opened up the pantry and knelt down to grab a can of Fancy Feast cat food. She peeled back the lid and marched back to her bedroom. Kneeling on the floor again, she reached up and grabbed the bathroom knob while poised at the ready with the can in the other hand. This operation had to be precise, but above all, it had to be quick. She placed the can on the marble ledge that marked the border between the bathroom and the bedroom, pushed open the door only as far as was necessary and slid the can in and across the floor. It made contact with the base of the double sinks and bounced back a few inches like a hockey puck veering off after having made contact with the wall. And then, quick as a flash, Mina yanked the door shut again and it was over. A success!

"Now was all that really necessary?"

"Stop talking!" Mina commanded. "You are a cat! Cats do not talk! Only crazy people hear talking cats!"

"Yeah, you're right," said Artemis sarcastically. "Better get you up to Bellevue."

"It's not funny!" Mina shrieked.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just – let me out, okay? We need to talk."

Mina paused. "I'm not ready to let you out just yet."

And so Artemis lived in Mina's bathroom for four days and she repeated the can sliding technique twice daily. When he asked what he was supposed to do for water, Mina calmly replied that he could help himself to her un-drained bathwater. When he pointed out that it was tainted with remnants of bath oil and bubbles, she replied that he should have thought of that before he started talking.

But on the fourth day, Mina had collected herself enough to finally hear Artemis out. She wasn't sure if it was clarity or sleep deprivation but she decided that if Artemis had decided to speak up after all those years of silence, she owed it to him to hear what he had to say. Clad in ratty sweats, she marched up to the bathroom door and flung it open. Artemis was sitting in the sink grooming himself, but when he saw freedom beckon, he was out the door before Mina could say a word. Then came the smell.

"Oh, GOD, Artemis!" Mina cried. She immediately pulled the neck of her sweatshirt over her nose and surveyed the damage. Four days' worth of feline excrement coated the once white plush bath mat and the stench of it combined with uneaten, spoiled cat food hung thick in the air. She slammed the door shut again.

"Well, what did you expect?" Artemis replied innocently.

"I –," Mina began, but quickly changed her mind. "You know what? We're not doing this. I'm making coffee and you're going to tell me why you know how to talk."

When the coffee was made, and Mina was seated at the dining room table, Artemis leapt up from the floor and situated himself on the table across from her.

"Go ahead," Mina ordered.

Artemis took a breath and began: "Mina, I've been sent from the past to watch over you and when the time came, to tell you about your destiny."

"Vague, go on."

"You're more than just a girl, Mina. You're more than a movie star. You are a heroine."

Mina rolled her eyes. Artemis continued: "You are a Soldier from the planet Venus. You are Sailor Venus and you possess extraordinary powers. You are on this planet to find the Moon Princess and the Silver Crystal and to keep them both safe from the evil powers of the Negaverse."

Mina just stared at Artemis who looked back at her with shining eyes. "It's true," he continued, taking a few steps across the table toward her. "And I can prove it." Mina raised an eyebrow. "Get the stick I left for you. It's still on your bed."

Mina gasped. "It came from _you_?" Artemis nodded. Mina padded into her bedroom and saw the beautiful golden-orange stick. It reflected the sunlight that poured in through her terrace window creating a smattering of white orbs of light across her walls and furniture. She picked it up gingerly and brought it back to the dining area and placed in on the table before Artemis.

"No, you take it," he ordered. "Take it and say 'Venus power!'"

Mina's heart started to pound as a sense of foreboding began to fill her heart. She felt she was about to begin something that would change her life forever, something she couldn't take back. But her sense of curiosity won the day and she gripped the stick tightly in her hand and said boldly, "Venus power!"

As soon as she uttered the words, a star-patterned ribbon of light exploded from the wand she held and encased her body as her clothes melted away. The light warmed her bare skin and in a blink, she was dressed again. Her apartment reappeared and there was Artemis grinning ear to ear.

"Good to see you again, Venus," he said.

Mina darted across the room to examine herself from head to toe in the full-length mirror affixed to the back of the hall bathroom door. Mina gasped as she gazed at the orange-accented, sailor-suited girl before her. She barely recognized herself. She traced the midnight-blue bow sitting on her chest and turned to face Artemis who had followed her.

"What do you think?" he asked smugly.

"I think," Mina replied, "that you're going to have start from the beginning and tell me everything." Artemis nodded gravely, but with a twinkle in his eye. "But first thing's first," Mina said, her heels clattering as she made her way across the apartment to the kitchen. She glanced at her refrigerator, which was littered with magnets advertising various restaurants and services available throughout the city. Her eyes settled on the magnet she sought and she picked up the telephone on the wall beside the fridge and dialed. "Hello?" she asked. "You clean bathrooms, right?"


	11. Chapter 10: Princess

**CHAPTER TEN: Princess**

_Darien_, she whispered urgently. Her long white dress glittered in the moonlight. He reached for her, but she turned her face away. _Darien, please. You must find the Silver Crystal and set me free. _

_How do I find it?_

_Find the seven Rainbow Crystals buried deep within the souls of the carriers. They will reveal the Silver Crystal. Find them and you will set me free. Please, Darien._ Her voice trembled. _The Nega Force gets stronger every day._

_I'll find you, Princess. I promise!_

He awoke panting and tangled in covers. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and settled on his brow. He glanced over at the raven-haired beauty fast asleep at his side. Slowly, so as not to disturb her, he wriggled out of the sheet and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair and tried to shake off the dream. They were coming every night now and each night the dream was more vivid. Darien stood up and made his way over to his desk on which Raye had slung her jeans. He reached into the back pocket for her pack of Camels. He'd quit smoking over four years ago, but Raye was a chain smoker. Ever since they'd started seeing each other, he'd fallen off the wagon. Pack in hand, he slipped out the sliding glass door that led out to his terrace. He lit a cigarette, took a long drag, and stared out over the Hudson at the twinkling skyline of Jersey City.

_They're just dreams_, he tried to reassure himself. _They don't mean anything. But why do I feel like this princess is really out there and waiting for me to free her? _

He snuffed out his cigarette on the railing and stepped back inside. Raye had taken to sleeping in nothing but his boxers, something he found excruciatingly sexy. He climbed into bed and buried his face in the back of her neck. Her lithe frame rose and fell rhythmically and he slid his hand down the slope of her side and it came to rest in the dip between her ribs and hip. Darien inspected every inch of her form and was overcome by her beauty. Moonlight poured in through the window and he could make out the details of the smattering of small, circular scars decorating her left shoulder. He had a feeling he knew how they got there, but he wasn't supposed to ask.

"Hi, my name is Darien Hunter. I'm looking for Molly Baker?" Darien said softly into the phone. Raye was still sleeping and he didn't want to wake her.

"Yeah, that's me," came the cheerful voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, so I got your card from a friend and I'm interested in seeing more of your work. Are you in a gallery downtown or something?"

"Ah, no, no gallery, but I'll be down at the Union Square farmer's market all day today if you wanna come by."

"Okay, great," Darien whispered. "Thanks so much, I guess I'll see you later."

"Great!"

Darien hung up the phone and placed it on the counter. He set about making coffee and thought about surprising Raye with breakfast. He wasn't much of a cook, but he did know a thing or two about French toast. He stood in front of the open fridge for a moment and then quickly changed his mind flipping on the coffee maker instead. She wouldn't have eaten it anyway.

Back in his bedroom, he crawled into bed next to Raye and began to kiss her neck hoping to wake her. She was usually pretty ravenous in the morning, if not for food. Her eyes fluttered open and he couldn't stop himself. She didn't speak, but uttered a low moan, which Darien took as an open invitation.

Wending his way through the weekend crowd, Darien found himself among a sect of New York he didn't see often: the farmer's market crowd. Ordering nearly every one of his meals in, Darien wasn't much for fresh food, but as he examined the carts full of shining apples and plump pears he began to think he should tap into his inner chef. It appeared to him that farmer's markets were more or less the exclusive province of females and he felt like a kid in a candy store. His eyes lingered for a moment over a slight, sienna-haired girl who was at that moment bent over and appraising a medium-sized pumpkin. _Damn_, Darien thought. He momentarily contemplated moseying on over to her and striking up a conversation, but he quickly decided against it. For one thing, he was here for a purpose: to find the artist who had been painting the girl of his dreams. For another, the "Meat is Murder" button pinned to her shoulder bag led him to conclude that they wouldn't have much to talk about the next morning.

Darien strolled through the market scanning the tables until at last he happened upon his artist. She was sitting in a metal folding chair reading _On the Road_ with her feet resting up on the table. Darien was about to interrupt her when he noticed her works. His heart started to pound so loudly in his chest, he was sure people around him could hear.

"It's her," he murmured as he gazed at the various depictions of his princess.

"Oh hi!" said the artist, a short, bony red-head with a thick Brooklyn accent. "See anything you like?"

"Uh, yeah," said Darien, feeling a little unsure of himself. "I called you earlier? Asked about the paintings?"

"Oh, that was you?" Her face lit up. "I'm so glad you came by! I'm Molly." She stuck out her hand and shook his warmly.

Darien felt a little uncomfortable at her enthusiasm, but pushed it aside. "Listen," he said, "how did you come up with her? I mean, as a character. To paint. Like, why does she look like that? Where did you get her from?" Darien was embarrassed at his inability to speak intelligently on the subject of art. He could kick himself for laughing at the art history majors back at Princeton.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Molly, sitting down again.

Remembering his dream and the urgency with which the princess pleaded with him, Darien said, "Try me."

"Well, okay," said Molly. "I met her."

Darien froze. "You—you what?"

Molly sighed. "I know. It's ridiculous. I got mugged by this—this thing and then there she was. She saved my life."

Darien raised an eyebrow. "What did she do exactly?"

"I was kinda freaked out by the whole thing and not really paying attention to what was happening. But one minute I'm being slammed against a brick wall and then next I'm picking my things up off the ground and thanking this girl in a sailor suit."

"What was she like?" Darien prodded, unable to conceal his interest.

Molly shrugged. "Well, I mean, she saved my _life_. But to be honest, she was kinda spacey. Like she didn't really know what was going on."

"Do you know how to get in touch with her?"

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Well, no. I haven't seen her since. Do you know her or something?"

"Oh, no," said Darien quickly, trying to ease up on his insistency. "I just—like the paintings is all. I'll take this one," he said pointing to one where the sailor-suited heroine was pictured in the bottom left corner holding a small black cat with a crescent moon-shaped patch of fur in the middle of her forehead. "And this one," he added, pointing to a close-up portrait depicting the details of her face. His gaze lingered over this painting as he had never seen the face of his princess in his dreams, yet he knew in his gut that this was her face.

"Twenty each," said Molly.

He reached into his pocket and began to thumb through his billfold. At that moment, he noticed another painting on the ground that he didn't see before. In this one, the heroine's face was cut off above the chin and the piece centered around the locket she wore at her breast. Darien felt a pang of recognition as he traced the detailing of the locket with his eyes. Without much more consideration, he added, "This one too."

_Hm_, Darien thought as he surveyed the bare walls in his home office. _I guess this will have to do._ He had dropped by the hardware store for some supplies and set to work affixing his newly-acquired artworks to the walls. Once he had them arranged in an aesthetically pleasing pattern he stood back and studied them. _Who _are_ you?_

The next morning, Darien found himself strolling toward work in an unusually chipper mood. He popped into Starbucks for his ritual morning coffee.

"Nice day, huh, Meatball-head?" Darien greeted the barista.

"I have a name, you know," she replied, pointing to the nametag pinned to her shirt.

"Serena," said Darien. "It's just a little bit too dignified for you, don't you think? Meatball-head is a much better fit. Venti Sumatra black, double shot of espresso, please." He flashed his trademark grin at the tow-headed nymph in front of him and was soon facing her back as she dispensed coffee from the urn behind her. When the cup was brimming, she turned around again and squinted her eyes.

"Oh, hey, you got something on your face," she said, furrowing her brow and pointing to a spot on his left cheek.

Darien's hand immediately went to his face. "Where? Here? Did I get it?" he asked, self-consciously, brushing at his cheek and examining his hand.

"Oh, wait," she said dryly. "Never mind. I don't think that self-satisfied sense of entitlement wipes off. My mistake." And with that, she placed a plastic lid on his coffee and pushed it across the counter. Darien felt his ears burn red as he heard snickering coming from the customers behind him in line. Darien paid for his drink and quickly made his way to the exit. He hadn't expected a girl who slung coffee for a living to have such a biting edge and he was caught off guard.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as he narrowly avoided stepping on a black cat that quickly darted across his path and scooted underneath a parked car. _Shit_, he cursed as droplets of hot Sumatra fluttered out of the cup and landed on his hand. _What a morning._

When he arrived at his office, no one appeared to be at work. Darien dropped his things at his desk and glanced at the wall clock. Nine-fifteen. If anything, he was late. Just then, he heard muted voices coming from the conference room. He pushed open the door to find most of his colleagues sitting around the table clutching coffee mugs and staring wide-eyed at the forty-two inch plasma television mounted on the wall.

"For those of you who are just joining us this morning," said the young newscaster, "MTA officials are reporting that an M86 cross-town bus heading west on Eighty-Sixth Street disappeared earlier this morning. The driver had reported a mechanical malfunction to the dispatcher and was supposed to return to the depot immediately following its final stop at Riverside Drive, but the driver – and the bus – never showed up. All efforts to contact the driver have met with silence and the NYPD is currently scouring the city for the missing bus. Calls have been flooding the NYPD's precincts as panicked family members who have been unable to reached their loved ones fear they have disappeared along with the bus. Authorities have no leads as of yet. At this time, terrorism is not suspected, but the city is on full alert."

"Wow," said Ken, shaking his head. "How do you lose an entire bus?"

"I bet the guy just took off with the bus. People have been stealing buses lately; it's been in the news," Andrew added.

"But they said he reported the mechanical failure," Rose interjected. "Why would he do that if he was just planning to take off with the bus? And why would he keep all those people on board?"

No one had an answer for her.


	12. Chapter 11: Saints

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: Saints**

"You never told me what your tattoo is about," Darien said, tracing his finger along the edge of the design that adorned the upper left part of her pelvic bone.

"Nothing to tell, really," she lied. "I was just flipping through the book at the tattoo place and liked the design."

"Liar," he replied as he interlaced her fingers with his and brought her hand to his lips. She could tell he knew there was a story behind her ink – that she would never brand her body capriciously – and that it bothered him she wouldn't tell it.

"They're just…reminders."

One thing Raye really appreciated about Darien was that he knew when to drop a subject. It wasn't that Raye didn't want to tell him what the crows meant and why she called them Phobos and Deimos. It was just that she wasn't ready to reveal that part of her past to him. It still pained her to talk about it or even think about it. And he wasn't ready to know.

The television hummed in the background but Raye wasn't really paying attention. She was concentrating on her work, which, at the moment, consisted of rubbing sticky beer stains off of wooden tables.

"Hey, Raye! Come look at this!" said Krista, a fellow bartender. She was sitting cross-legged on top of the bar staring up at the television screen as a newscaster spoke emphatically. Raye set her towel on a table and ambled over to where Krista was sitting and looked up at the screen.

"…This is the third bus disappearance in as many days and authorities are scrambling. As you'll no doubt recall, the first bus was the M86, the second was the M96, and this latest was the M106. Authorities have no idea if the perpetrator or perpetrators have any set agenda, but they clearly seem to be making their way uptown. Residents of Harlem and Washington Heights are especially urged to avoid buses when possible. There have been literally no signs of any of the buses. No demands for ransom have come in to NYPD and transit authorities in New Jersey and Connecticut have been on full alert. No one has seen the buses, which are believed to have been carrying full loads of passengers. It's as if they disappeared into thin air."

Krista switched off the T.V. and hopped off the bar. "Isn't this crazy? What kind of terrorist makes an entire bus disappear?"

Raye had a sinister feeling in her gut. "I don't think it is terrorism," she said.

"Well, what could it be?"

Raye didn't answer. She wasn't sure, but she knew in her heart it was something unnatural.

She loved the Spartan feel of the décor of Darien's apartment. It felt sterile and safe. She wandered aimlessly from room to room inspecting every inch. They had been dating exclusively for weeks now and Raye was just starting to become comfortable with him. She came to his office door and tried the knob, but it was locked. _Strange_, she thought. _Since when did he start locking the office? _She pulled harder but the door wouldn't budge. Dismayed, she headed over to his bookcase. Raye felt that all you needed to know about a person could be gleaned from his reading material. Darien's shelf was crammed with books, mostly finance books, a few classics, and a few mysteries. One title caught her eye and she slid the book from the shelf and examined the cover. It was called _Symbols in Sleep_. Raye opened the book to the dog-eared page and skimmed the highlighted passage which read:

"If you are a male and you see a princess in your dreams, she represents an important female figure in your life. She may be a friend, companion, relative, or lover. To see her repeatedly in your dreams indicates that you feel as if you've let her down in some way and you need to make it up to her."

Just then, Raye was interrupted by a knock on the door. She returned the book to its proper place on the shelf and went to the door. When she opened it, she found herself face to face with a gorgeous grinning blond dressed in a skimpy pink dress. The girl's smile disappeared when she got a good look at Raye's smoldering stare. Raye didn't say a word but raised an eyebrow expectantly as if to say, 'Well?'

"Um," the girl stammered. "I was just looking for Darien. I live upstairs and he told me…" She tentatively backed away from the door. Raye felt as if she'd seen this girl before. _Where do I know her from?_

"He's in the shower," said Raye curtly, blocking the doorway and glaring at the blue-eyed bombshell.

"Oh okay. I'll, uh, stop by another time." The girl stood there waiting a moment, but Raye only glared. Finally, she turned and headed down the hallway toward the elevators. Raye slammed the door and stood there for a moment seething. She heard the water shut off in the bathroom and could hear Darien humming to himself as he toweled. Rage began to boil inside Raye as she waited. A few moments later, Darien emerged with a cloud of steam from the bathroom. He looked up at Raye with a smile that, when he saw her face, quickly disappeared.

"What's wrong?"

"Your little friend stopped by."

"Who? What? What friend?" Darien looked genuinely confused and he took a few steps toward Raye and reached out to her with one hand while keeping the other firmly gripped on the towel hugging his waist.

"Don't come near me!" she snapped as she moved around the coffee table to avoid Darien's grasp.

"Seriously, Raye, I don't know what you're talking about! Who came by?"

"Some blond from upstairs! She said you _told_ her to come over!"

"Raye, I—"

"Did you invite her here when you knew I'd be here?" Raye demanded.

"Raye, come on. That was before—"

Just then, Darien's Blackberry buzzed on the coffee table and Raye seized upon it.

"Raye, what are you doing?"

Raye ignored him and started to scroll through his contacts list. The fire returned to her eyes as little else but women's names scrolled by. "Who the fuck ARE all these women?" Raye screamed as she pointed his Blackberry at him accusingly.

"Jesus, Raye, I don't even know. Clients? Friends? Cousins? Calm the fuck down."

"Don't tell me to calm down, you piece of shit!" And with that, his Blackberry came sailing through the air. Darien ducked just in time to avoid the projectile and heard his phone crash into the wall and fall to the floor in pieces.

"Are you insane?" Darien knelt down to pick up the fragments of his phone. "Raye," he said, trying to stay calm, "there's no one but you. I swear it."

"Don't you fucking lie to me," she said coldly as she backed up toward the door.

"Raye," Darien pleaded. "Don't—"

"Stay away from me!" she shrieked as she reached for the deadbolt on the front door. Disregarding her command, Darien crossed the room and wrenched her wrist away from the door and whirled her around. In a rare show of aggression, Darien pinned her against the door and pressed himself against her.

"You're the only one," he whispered into her ear. She struggled against him, but he held her there until her resolve weakened. Then he kissed her deeply.

Organ music echoed off the high stone walls of the Cathedral at St. John the Divine. The cathedral was Raye's favorite place in the city and there were always free events going on. But that wasn't what brought her there that day. The haunting melody was instantly soothing to Raye as she entered the hallowed edifice. She immediately dropped to one knee and spoke softly as she made the sign of the cross: "_In nominee Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti_." She stood and made her way around the High Altar toward the seven chapels stationed behind the choir, which was at that moment filled with musicians tuning. Ever since the fire that had raged through the cathedral some years ago, it had been under construction and scaffolding obscured, but could not diminish, the enthralling beauty of the thirteenth-century High Gothic architecture. Although the intimidating majesty of the High Altar itself was what took the breaths of tourists away, Raye was in love with the small chapels just beyond. Her favorite was the chapel of St. Savior, which was housed in the middle at the furthest end of the church. Each of the seven chapels was associated with a different saint and each saint represented one of the major groups of immigrants that came to New York around the beginning of the twentieth century. St. Savior was the patron devoted to immigrants from Africa and Asia. Even though Raye could not associate many positive things with her Japanese heritage, she felt the most at home before St. Savior.

Again, she fell to her knees and brought her hands together in prayer. _I'm filled with dread_, she silently told her saint. _I can't explain it, but I feel something evil invading the city. Please give me the strength to endure._ Raye continued in her prayers and when she finished, she remained on her knees in silent meditation for nearly an hour. When she was done, she got to her feet and headed back toward the nave to see a bit of the concert before returning home. The New York Philharmonic was in the middle of the sixth movement of the German Requiem by Brahms. Raye recognized it from her church choir days. She chose a seat in the back.

Raye sensed that something was happening outside before she could hear it. The hairs on her arm stood on end and she felt an electric tingle creep up her neck. Then she could hear screaming and loud crashes coming from just outside the cathedral. She whipped her head around and glared at the entrance wishing New Yorkers could be a little more considerate for once. She stood up and walked over to the entrance preparing to give everyone outside an earful. Probably high schoolers fooling around, she thought. But before she got to the front, something burst through the front door carrying with it a flood of energy that sent Raye flying into the information desk. She fell to the ground and looked up in horror as a skeletal demon flew past her and over the heads of the audience members and came to rest upon a stone angel. Charging in after the demon came two young girls dressed in short-skirted sailor outfits. Raye wasn't sure, but she could have sworn a small cat came in chasing after them. Hysteria ensued at the sight of the demon and soon people were trammeling over chairs and each other to get out of the cathedral. Raye gasped and crawled underneath the desk to avoid being stomped on. It didn't take long for the cathedral to clear and Raye crawled out from under the desk and began to make her way to the front door.

She stood up and stared back at the ambulatory where the two girls appeared to be battling with the demon.

"Sailor Moon, your tiara!" said the girl in blue. And with that instruction, Raye looked on in disbelief as the other girl removed the tiara from her head and it transformed into a circular disc, which she hurled in the demon's direction. The moon girl's tiara missed its target, however, and flew straight into one of the tapestries depicting Raphael's The Acts of the Apostles. Raye's eyes began to well as the disc tore a hole through the venerated cloth leaving a singed ring around the edges.

"Not here!" Raye screamed. Noticing her for the first time, the demon flew down from its perch and descended upon Raye. Raye felt faint as the demon's talons sunk into her flesh. Without warning, Raye felt a surge of energy and the usually-dim cathedral was bathed in a flood of light that seemed to be emanating from her. The two sailor-suited heroines came running and their eyes grew wide at the sight of Raye. _What the hell are they staring at and why don't they free me? _she thought starting to panic. Soon Raye couldn't hear or see anything and she became convinced she was slipping out of consciousness. Her skin turned cold. Suddenly, the demon's grip on her loosened and Raye fell to the ground.

"Take this!" came a voice. Raye still couldn't see. It seemed that a thick, icy fog had filled the cathedral.

"What? What is it?" Raye asked, as she attempted to crawl further away from where she thought she had left the demon. As she crawled, her hand came down on a small, unfamiliar object sitting upon the stone. The fog was beginning to clear and Raye could make out a small red stick bearing a symbol she knew to be the symbol of men.

"You bear the symbol of Mars above your brow," came the voice. Raye looked up and found herself face to face with a cat that appeared to be almost smiling.

"Excuse me?" Raye whispered.

The cat came closer and said, plain as day: "Like Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury, you have special gifts. You are Sailor Mars, the soldier of fire! Take that stick and say 'Mars power'!"

Raye's first instinct was to scream, but then something welled inside her and she felt strangely calm. _Maybe this is the strength I prayed for_, she thought, eyeing the stick closely. She held it close to her lips and murmured softly, "Mars power!" For merely an instant, blackness surrounded her. Then a pulsing stream of fire sprang from the stick she held and formed rings around her body. She felt warm, but not burned even though the fire engulfed her body. In an instant, it was over and she examined herself to find her street clothes gone and in their place, a sailor suit just like those of the other girls, only hers was fire-engine red. But Raye had no time to study her predicament because the fog had cleared and the demon was rubbing the last bit of disorientation out of its eye.

Raye began to run toward the front entrance hoping to lure the others and the demon out with her. She burst into the crisp night air and clattered down the stone steps until she was standing on Amsterdam Avenue looking up at the cathedral. She brought her hands together and bowed her head in prayer. _Come out_, she prayed. _Come out!_

Moments later, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury came tearing out the door with the demon hot on their heels. Raye kept her hands together and once the demon was a safe distance away from the building, she interlaced three fingers of each hand, but left her two index fingers straightened together into a point. Her body began to move on its own and she was suddenly aware of the incantation. She snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes. "Mars…" she began slowly as she felt a surge of heat erupting through her body. "Fire…" Stronger now, the heat was almost unbearable. She felt certain that if she didn't expel it from her body she would burst into flames. "IGNITE!" Fire shot forth from Raye's body and concentrated into a ball that zeroed in on its target and enveloped the demon in red-hot flame.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury looked on aghast as the demon screamed in agony and gobs of skin melted off and fell sizzling to the ground. Moments passed and the demon evaporated in what could only have been the sweetest relief. Raye stood panting on the sidewalk trembling as her body slowly cooled and she reflected over what had occurred. As the cool, night breeze blew the remnants of the demon away, a flash of light temporarily blinded them.

"What was that?" Mercury asked.

Raye pointed to the street just before the cathedral. Sitting there were three city buses crammed with people who were now pouring out onto the sidewalk in a daze.

Soon, Moon and Mercury were by her side. "Are you all right?" Mercury asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"I think so," Raye said, catching her breath.

"I'm Serena," said the moon-studded girl with the bright, shining eyes. "Sailor Moon."

"And I'm Amy," said Mercury. "Or Sailor Mercury."

Raye looked at her companions. "I'm Raye. The cat called me Sailor…Mars."

"Great to have you!" said Serena eagerly. "But let's get the hell out of here before the NYPD shows up."

"I'm less worried about the police than I am about the _them_," said Amy, furrowing her brow and gesturing toward the crowd that was slowly gathering at the base of the steps.

"It's them!" came a voice. "They saved us!"

"I live around here," said Raye. "We can go to my place till things die down." The girls broke out into a run to get away from the victims who were still milling about trying to figure out where they were. They wanted to avoid having to explain themselves and avoid the inevitable media attention, but they needn't have bothered. Most were on the phone with loved ones relaying the details of their kidnapping and harrowing rescue. Moments later the police arrived and corralled everyone to the front steps of the cathedral and ordered no one to move while they made the necessary reports.

Things were so hectic, no one noticed the tall young sandy-haired man in dark sunglasses that slowly drifted away from the crowd. No one noticed him calmly bring his phone to ears and say: "It's Jed. Did you get the photo I just sent you?"


	13. Chapter 12: Fallen

**CHAPTER TWELVE: Fallen**

The air was thick with dread as the inhabitants of the Dark Castle assembled in the throne room for the Queen's pronouncement. Beryl had promised them a glorious new regime on Earth in which they would enjoy elevated status and the humans would serve as their slaves - cosmic payback for the suffering they endured after spending millennia banished to the Negaverse. But the quest was not going so well. The Four Knights of the Dark Kingdom were assigned the task of building up the energy reserves, but after only a few early successes, they had begun to encounter road blocks.

And so the Queen was in a poisonous mood. Her eyes glowed red and her thin lips were curled in a venomous snarl. She sat perched on her carved onyx throne and tapped her scepter with a long, bony finger.

"Come forth, Jaedite!" she bellowed.

A hush fell over the crowd as a young man with golden locks and delicate features made his way up the altar toward his Queen. He bent into a low bow and said nothing, waiting to be addressed first.

"Your quest for energy does not appear to be going well," the Queen said sharply. "Explain yourself."

"Majesty," Jaedite began, hoping that his voice did not betray the fear he felt, "When I sent Morga down for a collection, she was thwarted…"

"By whom?"

"A warrior who called herself Sailor Moon."

The Queen drew a sharp inhalation of breath. "And who is that?"

Jaedite stammered. "I am not certain, Majesty. I had not heard of her before. But she possessed enough power to destroy Morga by herself. And then Garoben—"

"Yes, what happened with the demon Garoben?"

"Sailor Moon returned, but this time, she had help. Another warrior – my sources tell me she is called Sailor Mercury – was there as well."

"And Kigaan? He showed promise."

Jaedite hung his head. "I made significantly more progress with Kigaan than the other demons. He was able to pull three city buses full of humans into our world for a brief time. But then…"

"But what!"

"A third warrior showed up and annihilated him. This third was far more powerful than the first two. She destroyed him with the power of fire."

"Jaedite, is it possible that I have not made myself perfectly clear what your mission is down on Earth?"

"No, Majesty," said Jaedite, his voice wavering.

"You are to collect human energy so that I may have enough to revive Metalia. Once she is fully restored, I will regain the power I once possessed before that pitiful Moon Queen sent us to sleep. I'll be able to finish what I began one thousand years ago and finally rule the universe. That is what you want, isn't it Jaedite?" Her voice was dangerously low.

"Of course, my Queen," Jaedite stammered.

"Your repeated failures are unacceptable, Jaedite."

"But Majesty, I did have some success. I was able to photo—"

"SILENCE!" Beryl bellowed. "I am not interested in your excuses!" Jaedite dropped to his knees and pleaded for his life, but it was no use. Beryl cast her dark energy out toward Jaedite and the crowd looked on in horror as he became entombed in a dark crystal shell. "Let that be a warning to all of you," she said in a low voice. "Nephrite! Come forward!"

A tall, dark-complexioned man stepped forward. Long, brassy brown hair framed his face, which wore a permanent expression of fury. Nephrite considered himself more of a planner than an executor and resented having to assume the energy collection duties of the disgraced Jaedite. Still, there was no disobeying Beryl and he bowed low in her presence.

"I assume you know what I expect of you, Nephrite," said Beryl coldly.

"I do, Majesty," Nephrite replied. "And I will not disappoint you."

"You'd better not," said Beryl, "or a fate worse than Jaedite's awaits you." Beryl dismissed Nephrite with a wave of her bony hand and he disappeared into the shadows.

"Jaedite's failure was his arrogance," came a voice in the dark. Nephrite looked up to see Kunzite, his compatriot, emerge. The two began to walk down a long corridor together. "Do not make his mistake," Kunzite cautioned.

"I won't, brother," Nephrite replied. The two continued to walk silently down the corridor until they reached an annex they used as a common meeting place. Zoisite was already there. Wordlessly, the three stood in a triangle and faced each other. Kunzite clasped his hands in front of him and bowed his head. Zoisite and Nephrite followed suit.

"A prayer for our fallen brother," Kunzite intoned. "May he finally know peace."

Their remembrance concluded, it was time for Nephrite to get down to business. Once alone in his own quarters, Nephrite inserted a small chip into his computer. Nephrite was one of the few soldiers of the Negaverse who had embraced human technology as a way to infiltrate their society. _Jaedite wasn't completely worthless_, he thought as the image of the three sailor soldiers filled the screen. He inspected each of them closely before composing a brief email from an anonymous email account. He attached the image and within seconds, it hit the inbox of every major media outlet in the city of New York.

Deep in the heart of the onyx castle were the Queen's private chambers. She was weakened after the incident with Jaedite and felt a prickling pain racing over her body. She collapsed onto a small stool that sat in front of a large vanity mirror. Her reflection wavered and she saw that life was fleeting from her eyes. She felt a desperate hunger for more energy. As she stared harder into the mirror, her reflection melted away and was replaced with the image of a prince. His steely gray eyes pierced hers and his shining black hair blew softly in a breeze Beryl could see, but couldn't feel.

"Soon, my love," she whispered. "Soon we'll be together. And then nothing will keep us apart. Not her, not anyone."


	14. Chapter 13: Truth

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Truth**

Raye's apartment was a modest-sized, but comfortable studio situated on the second floor of a five-story building between a Caribbean restaurant and a hole-in-the-wall burrito place. She had no couch so she sat cross-legged on her bed while Serena collapsed into a soft papasan chair. Amy was perched on Raye's desk chair and the three of them listened rapt while Luna explained their mission again.

Amy had heard an abbreviated version of this story once before, but the inquisitive Raye, the latest addition to their team, kept pushing Luna for more information. Amy was grateful since Serena didn't seem to be too interested in the story or her role in it; Serena's eyes had glazed over and she stared at the wall as Luna spoke. _Then again_, Amy reasoned, _Serena had learned of her alter ego well before the other two did so maybe she has all the information she needs._

"How did you know how to find us?" Raye asked.

"I communicate with a special operative through a portal. I call her Central Control."

"Who is she?"

"To be perfectly honest," Luna said, looking sheepishly at the floor, "I don't really know. She's extremely secretive about her identity. But when I found her, she unlocked certain memories of mine from the Silver Millennium. She told me my mission and ever since that day, I've been looking for you girls."

"Are there more of us?"

"There are," said Luna. "I'm to recognize them by their planetary symbols which are to appear on their foreheads at times of heightened emotional stress."

"So they're in New York?"

"Central Control did tell me that I would find you all here in the city."

"That's kind of a bizarre coincidence, isn't it?" Amy piped up. "I mean, there are six billion people in the world. What are the odds that a certain group of five would be in one city?"

"I'm a little shaky on all the precise details, Amy, but one thing I have learned is that there are no coincidences. There's something about this city that holds some importance for some reason. This is where the Negaverse concentrates its activity and this is where I was told I'd find all of you. And the Moon Princess as well."

"And what about this Moon Princess?" asked Raye. "Why is she so important and what are we supposed to do when we find her?"

"All I know is that the Moon Princess is the only one who can wield the Silver Crystal. And the Silver Crystal is the only power that can defeat Beryl."

At this, Serena chimed in. "I'm starving. Can we order food or something?"

Raye rolled her eyes. "How can you be so cavalier about this? Did you not see that monster that stole three city buses?"

"I've been seeing these monsters for months now," Serena said dryly. "I'm past getting all excited about it."

Raye stood up and walked impatiently to the kitchen area of her apartment and reached into a bowl that sat atop the refrigerator. She pulled out an apple and tossed it to Serena.

"I was thinking more like chips or something," Serena muttered.

"Well, I don't keep that crap in the house," Raye snapped.

Amy sensed that the tension in the room was starting to escalate and tried to diffuse it: "I love your apartment, Raye. The artwork is really beautiful." Amy gestured to a piece hanging on the wall depicting two Asian language characters. "That's really interesting. What do those symbols mean?"

Raye looked up at the painting to which Amy was referring and avoided the substance of the question replying merely, "Oh, those are Japanese symbols. I'm half Japanese."

"Oh, wow," said Amy. "Have you ever been to Japan?"

"No."

Raye didn't elaborate and Amy didn't want to pry so she quickly changed the subject. "So, I was working on something on a software program I wrote. I was trying to fix a bug, but then I thought that maybe it wasn't a bug. My program is a space mapping program and it found a huge distortion in the space between Mars and Jupiter. I'm starting to think that distortion has something to do with Beryl."

"What do you mean?" asked Raye.

"Maybe that's where she's hiding out, sending her minions from. I'm not really sure. The night I discovered my alter-ego, the demon destroyed my computer. I haven't had a chance to get another one because I've been so pre-occupied with all this Sailor business."

"If something weird is going on in space," Serena said, each word muffled by bites of half-chewed apple, "how come NASA isn't dealing with it?"

"Glad you decided to join the conversation," Raye muttered, eliciting a scowl from Serena.

Amy shrugged. "NASA is understaffed and underfunded. Chances are that even if they noticed the distortion, they'd attribute it to the Asteroid Belt or space junk or even to their own dated software. No one in this country really cares about space exploration anymore. Well, except for Galaxia Corporation, I suppose."

Amy hadn't gotten around to telling the Galaxia executives what was "wrong" with her program. If she'd told them that StarScape was working perfectly, she was sure that one of two scenarios would to play out: either they wouldn't believe her outright, or the revelation of the space anomaly would cause a worldwide panic. Amy wasn't sure what to do, so she'd been avoiding calls from Sam, Darien, and even Ken. Ken had left a few voicemails for her, each with an increasing degree of urgency. Apparently the Galaxia executives had interpreted her silence as reticence on her part to sell the product and they were beginning to panic. Darien and Sam were delighted with the effect this had on their purchase offer for CelesTech, but Ken sensed that something was wrong. It wasn't like Amy to avoid him or her responsibilities.

"Can we watch T.V. awhile?" Serena complained.

"I don't have T.V." Raye answered curtly. Serena stood up and searched the apartment. She was done in precisely thirty seconds.

"You don't have a T.V.!" she declared.

Raye narrowed her eyes. "Sign this one up for Mensa!" Serena glared; Amy coughed uncomfortably. "It's a waste of time," Raye added for good measure.

"But you have the Internet I see," said Amy, inspecting the high-speed DSL line under Raye's desk. "Mind if I check my email?"

"Go ahead," said Raye, returning to Luna. "So anyway, what do you know about…"

But Amy didn't hear their conversation. She was distracted by Raye's homepage on her web browser. It was set to the New York Post front page and there, staring Amy right in the face, was a photo of the three of them beneath a headline that read:

_Skimpy-Suited Sailors Save City Straphangers_

"Um…you guys?"

Raye, Serena, and Luna looked up to meet Amy's eyes.

"You need to see this…" said Amy. She leaned back as Raye and Serena crowded behind her. Luna hopped up onto Amy's lap and scanned the screen.

"What the hell is this?" Serena inquired, cocking her head to the side.

"Besides an alliterative nightmare," added Raye.

Amy clicked on the article and read aloud: "Put away your rat traps and roach motels, New Yorkers. A new scourge has hit the city that never sleeps. This time, it's demon bus snatchers! All of the city was abuzz with the news that three MTA buses were absconded with over the past two weeks. Initially it was thought that terrorists had hijacked the bus, but with no ransom demands and no trace of the buses, that theory was quickly dismissed. The sudden recovery of the buses – all three of which were found parked outside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine – shocked the NYPD. But what's even more shocking is the story of their miraculous return. The Post spoke with survivor Patricia Haruna, a school-teacher in Inwood, and when asked where they had been for so long, she responded: 'We were taken into an alternate universe by this gross monster thing. It did something to us. It didn't feel like we were gone as long as we were. We were all severely weakened and we couldn't figure out why. And then all of a sudden we were back uptown and these three young ladies with superpowers had saved us from the demon.' A crazy story indeed. But what's even crazier is that of the approximately ninety survivors from this ordeal, every one of them has told substantially the same story." Amy looked up at Raye, then back at Serena. "Contact The Post if you have any information, blah blah blah."

"How…who…what…" Serena stammered.

"How did this happen?" Raye demanded, as if Amy, the discoverer of the article, somehow had all the answers.

"I don't know! I guess someone there must've had a camera phone and sent it to the media. And shockingly, the media is buying it!"

A slow smile crept onto Serena's face. "This could be awesome," she said.

Raye and Amy glanced at each other, then back to Serena. "How exactly?" asked Amy, slowly.

"We're like celebrity superheroes!"

"Well, look who's finally getting excited about hero work!" Luna chimed in, glad to see Serena looking excited, even if it was only for fame.

"I don't want to be a celebrity," said Raye, sourly. "It's no kind of life. People are up in your business all the time."

"Being a celebrity is amazing," said Serena, matter-of-factly. "Look at Mina Van Arsdale. She has the best life. Nothing but fabulous parties and vacations to the tropics." Serena stared off in a moony daze.

Raye snapped to attention. "Mina Van Arsdale. Which one is that again?"

"She's in that ridiculous new movie about her and the guy and the Lighthouse and she's dying and blah blah blah," said Amy, dismissively.

Serena looked crushed. "That movie is amazing! He's rich and she's poor and they find each other and they fall in love but she's dying and wants to see the world before she dies but he can't go because he has to work in the family business so he sends her on all these trips and she sends him postcards from all these different lighthouses in all these different coastal cities and then…well I don't want to ruin it for you."

Raye rolled her eyes. "They've made that movie a hundred thousand times. And it sucks every single time."

Serena frowned. "Shove over, Amy." Serena scooted into the desk chair that was too small for both of them and typed in "Lighthouse trailer" into the YouTube search engine. "You have to see this trailer."

As it loaded, Raye reluctantly looked over Serena's shoulder to watch. When Mina Van Arsdale's visage, bright and lovely, graced the screen Raye's eyes darkened.

"_That's_ Mina Van Arsdale?" she screeched.

"Yes, of course," answered Serena. "Who'd you think it was?"

Raye stepped into a pair of black ballet flats and threw on a hooded sweatshirt. She grabbed her keys, wallet, and phone and shoved them into the front pocket. "I have to go, I have to see someone," she said hurriedly, looking angrier by the minute.

Serena and Amy looked at each other and quickly collected their things. "Um, we'll walk with you for awhile," Amy said tentatively.

"Fine," Raye muttered. They hastily exited the apartment with Raye charging ahead and Amy and Serena hurrying to keep pace. As they bustled down the street, they came across an Irish pub called O'Brien's where floods of people were pouring out in a panic.

"Monsters!" one of them screamed as he ran past the girls.

"Oh no, not again!" Serena whined. Amy pulled the two of them down a set of stairs leading into someone's garden-level apartment. Hidden from street view, they quickly transformed and stamped back up the steps.

Twin demons, one with red lizard-like skin and the other with blue, darted out of the bar and skidded onto the street. A man with long dark hair and an imposing stance glowered at them from the doorway. "Castor," he commanded, pointing at the soldiers, "and Pollux! Destroy them now!"

"Mars fire ignite!" yelled Castor as she hurled a familiar fireball toward the soldiers. Raye escaped serious injury but her skirt caught fire. She threw herself to the ground and rolled around until the fire was put out leaving her skirt tattered and singed.

"Mercury bubble blast!" screeched Pollux. A flurry of icy bubbles came careening toward Amy. She leaped out of the way, but the bubbles, cold as ice, grazed her thigh leaving a three-inch gash. She cried out in pain and pressed her hands to the wound to quell the bleeding.

Serena was completely unharmed, having hidden behind a dumpster at the first sign of trouble. She timidly emerged when she saw her compatriots injured.

"Sailor Moon, you are the biggest wimp I have ever met in my life!" Raye screamed looking like she wanted to throttle Serena.

"Bite me, Mars," Serena replied gracefully.

"Stop it, you guys!" Amy cried, staggering to her feet. "Somehow they were able to mimic our powers."

"I'm on it, I'm on it," Serena assured as she raised her hand to her tiara.

"Not by yourself, you're not," Raye growled.

"Moon tiara…"

"Mars fire…"

"Mercury bubble…"

The soldiers took aim and fired with everything they had.

"MAGIC!" Serena's tiara took off and whizzed through the air.

"IGNITE!" Raye's fire infused into the metal tiara causing it to sizzle as it flew.

"BLAST!" A ring of bubbles encircled the blazing tiara and it cut through Pollux like she was made of paper. The tiara boomeranged back and tore through Castor and they both instantly dissolved into dust. Serena caught the tiara and dropped it immediately when it burned her hand.

"Owwww," she complained.

"Oh, that's some battle wound you got," Raye said, rolling her eyes.

At this, the dark, scowling man in the doorway came forward.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you," he drawled.

"Who are you!" demanded Raye.

"You're the one sending these monsters to the city, aren't you? Admit it!" Amy shouted.

The man smiled and bent his head in a simple bow. "With pride."

"Who are you?" asked Serena, as she bent down and placed a fingertip onto the tiara to see if it was still hot. Finding it cool enough, she returned it to her head.

"I am Nephrite. Second of the Four Knights. And you must be Sailor Moon. I have to say, I was expecting someone a bit more formidable."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, the Sailor Moon I heard of didn't cower behind dumpsters while her friends took the hits."

"A good point," Raye muttered.

"Shut _up_, Mars!"

"In any event," Nephrite continued. "I don't suppose any of you has it in you to fight _me_."

"Well, we dusted those two monsters you sent pretty damn easily," Raye snarled.

Nephrite snorted. "Those are minions. I'm the real deal." To prove his point, he extended his arm out and summoned a ball of black energy. It swirled and emitted jolts of electricity around his hand.

"Um…" said Serena, not wanting to test him.

All of a sudden a voice bellowed: "Nephrite! Return home immediately!"

The girls looked all around. It seemed like the voice was coming from somewhere nearby, but they couldn't identify the source.

"I can finish them now," Nephrite protested.

"No. The Queen wants to wait," the voice bellowed, deep and sharp.

Nephrite turned around and began to walk away, but then stopped, looked over his shoulder and said, "I'll see you girls very soon. But don't plan on a similar outcome next time." He turned again and as he walked, he slowly faded away until he disappeared into thin air.

"This is getting really creepy," said Serena.

"Yeah," Amy agreed. "I guess there's some kind of hierarchical structure among these…things. Nephrite is a cut above the demons they keep sending down, but he took orders from that voice. But the voice mentioned a Queen. Which I assume they both take orders from."

The three looked off in the direction Nephrite left with a sense of foreboding. He would be back.

A few weeks later, Amy was sitting in a Brooklyn coffee shop by the name of Beans & Books with her computer in front of her and warm autumn drink in her hand. She chewed the cap of her pen, thoughtful for a moment. _Demons sent by Nephrite. Nephrite takes orders from the Voice. But the Voice is subservient to a Queen._ She sipped her pumpkin latte and stared at her blank computer screen. She had been trying to make a flow chart of the enemies hierarchy but wasn't getting very far. _All of the attacks had one thing in common: the victims were deprived of energy. So…they're sucking out our energy and using it for…for…blah. _Nothing was coming to her.

"Amy Anderson?"

Amy was startled. She looked up to see a tall man in a long gray trench coat standing over her.

"Do I know you?" she asked quizzically.

Amy was a little taken aback by his appearance. She couldn't tell how old he was. He had a youthful-looking face, but his expression was of someone who had seen a lot of tragedy in his life. Further complicating matters was his hair. It was long, pulled back in a low ponytail, and so blond that it appeared almost white. He smiled a tight, thin-lipped smile and replied, "No, not personally. But I'm a big fan of your work. I'm Kaleb Malcolm, C.E.O. of Galaxia Corporation. I believe we're doing some business together?"

Amy was aghast. "I've heard of you, of course, but…I can't believe someone of your stature is here talking to me!"

Kaleb smiled and gestured to the empty chair across from her. "Mind if I sit down?"

Amy nodded her assent so forcefully that her sunglasses, which had been sitting on top of her head, came flying forward and crashed into her computer screen. Blushing, Amy picked them up and shoved them into her bag. Kaleb chuckled and sat down.

"Listen, Amy," he began, "I wanted to discuss a few things with you. First thing's first: how is the design flaw coming along?"

Amy cringed at the word flaw. "I've been working on it for quite awhile, as you know," she said. "I'm not sure if they told you, but my computer was destroyed a little while ago – I, uh, spilled a soda on it – and so I had to start from scratch. But I've been plugging along pretty steadily now and I'm not entirely sure –" she paused for dramatic effect, "—that there _is_ a design flaw."

Kaleb's expression darkened.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, suddenly hushing his voice. Amy started to get nervous.

"Well, I just mean, I think that the distortion the program is picking up is the real thing. Well, I guess I mean I haven't ruled that out…"

"You know, Amy," said Kaleb, suddenly cheerful again, "I think you might be onto something. It's creative thinking like that that brings me to my next point. I'd like you to come work for Galaxia Corporation. We could use your talents in house."

Amy gasped and then her face melted into a smile. "That's very kind of you, Mr. Malcolm—"

"Kaleb."

"Kaleb. It's very generous, but I like freelancing. It gives me time to—" Amy looked away. "Pursue, um, other interests."

Kaleb laughed a big throaty laugh. "Amy, you could freelance for us. Set your own schedule. Just sort of be a one-woman think tank. We're really trying to expand our space exploration division. You could be a key part of that. Think of it, Amy. Exploring the final frontier."

Normally a Star Trek reference endeared Amy to whoever uttered it. But something about Kaleb Malcolm gave her an uneasy feeling.

Before Amy could reply, Kaleb held up his hands: "Don't answer me now. Think it over and get back to me." He stood up and extended his hand. Amy shook it and gave a small smile. They said their goodbyes and Amy returned to her work, but the feeling nagged at her: _How did the C.E.O. of a major corporation know where to find me?_ Amy could kick herself for having been so star-struck that she didn't even bother to ask him that. _And where have I heard that voice before?_


	15. Chapter 14: Exhibition

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Exhibition**

"All right, Luna, I'm going to Duane Reade for some provisions, I'll be back in a few minutes." Serena grabbed her keys and slammed the door behind her. Once outside, she deeply inhaled the fresh air and strolled down the street toward the drug store. _Hm, maybe I'll check out the farmer's market first_, she thought as she saw the vendors gathered in booths set up with their wares. Serena wandered over to the market intending to stock up on apples, which she noticed were six for a dollar, when she was distracted by another vendor, this one an artist. But it wasn't the artist herself that alarmed Serena, but the artwork, which featured herself in various poses. She gasped. She looked around, but the market hadn't gotten crowded yet. She shuffled over to the table and stared thunderstruck at what were no fewer than fifteen pieces all centered featuring her. The artist, who'd had her back to Serena as she rummaged through a box on the ground, suddenly popped up.

"Hi there!" she exclaimed flashing a warm smile and who she hoped would be her first customer of the day.

Serena was aghast. It was the girl she'd saved from the monster the day she learned she was Sailor Moon! Serena cringed and waited to be recognized.

"Um, is there anything I can help you with?" the artist asked, casting a sidelong glance at Serena.

"I…uh…um, I…" Serena stammered. _She doesn't recognize me!_ Serena concluded. _But how can that be? She saw my face! _

"Do you like my work?" the artist tried again.

Serena nodded. "Um. Yes. She's very…um…interesting. Where…how did you come up with…her?"

The artist smiled and replied: "I met her a few weeks ago. I was attacked in this alley way right around this neighborhood and she came from out of nowhere and saved me. And now I can't stop painting her."

Serena's gaze drifted all over each of the paintings. _I look hot_, she decided.

"How are they selling?" Serena inquired.

"Extremely well," said the artist, blushing. "Ever since the Post did that piece on the buses, I can't paint them fast enough."

"They're very beautiful," said Serena, self-servingly. She fixed her gaze on one in which she, the subject, was standing on a white, gilded terrace looking up at the Earth which shimmered in brilliant shades of blue and green. "I'll take this one," she said, surprising herself. The artist smiled and wrapped up Serena's choice.

"Thanks!" she said, handing Serena a small card. "My information is on there. I'm Molly Baker."

Serena extended her hand and smiled back. "Serena Lawson."

"It's very nice to meet you, Serena. If you like my work, you should come down to the Silver Maiden. It's a small gallery in SoHo and they're going to be showing my work in an art show next week. I'd love for you to come."

"All right, Molly," said Serena. "I'll be there." Serena smiled again and turned to leave with her purchase.

"And bring friends!" Molly called after her.

"Amy, what do you think of this dress?" asked Serena as she modeled a slinky gray number for her friend. Amy, who had arrived exactly at seven in the evening, as she had been asked, to pick up Serena, sat patiently on the futon.

"You look great, Serena. Um, aren't you worried about being late?"

"SoHo's not far from here. Besides, you don't arrive to these things exactly on time. People will think you have no life."

"Ah," said Amy, checking the clock display on her phone.

"Thanks for not bringing Ken," Serena added, affixing a pair of faux diamond studs to her earlobes. "With Raye bringing that boyfriend of hers, I'd just feel weird being the only one without a guy."

"It's not a problem, Serena. Art shows aren't really his thing anyway. Hey, where's Luna?" Amy asked looking around.

"No idea," said Serena. "She usually paws at the window from the fire escape when she wants to come in. Some nights she's gone till morning."

Amy looked surprised. "What is she doing all night? Where does she go?"

"I have no idea," said Serena, sounding entirely disinterested in the subject.

"Don't you worry?"

"No. As far as I'm concerned, she's better off out there than subjected to my care. I have a bad track record when it comes to taking care of animals."

"I wonder what kind of business a cat could have that keeps her out all night."

"Maybe she has a boyfriend," said Serena, chuckling to herself. She dabbed a bit of perfume behind her ears and announced: "Okay, I'm ready, let's go!"

The gallery was clearly a former residential apartment building replete with cramped staircases leading up to the higher levels. But it was cleared of furniture and the walls were painted a crisp, clean white so as not to distract from the paintings adorning the walls. According to a helpful attendant holding a tray of champagne, Molly Baker's works were on display on the second floor. Serena and Amy eagerly helped themselves to the bubbly and headed up the narrow staircase to see the showcase.

As they entered the room, Serena was dumbstruck by all the images of herself staring back at her. There were enormous canvases painted in bright, vibrant colors and small sketches in black and white that looked half finished. Art lovers milled about throwing out terms such as "iridescence," and "transcendence," and "classical realism." Serena had no idea what any of it meant, but so far no one was saying "ugly," "gross," or "hideous," so she was satisfied.

"Amy," she whispered, as the two studied a large canvas depicting her on her knees with her hand covering a dripping wound on her arm, "how come no one here has recognized me? I've been standing here for twenty minutes. People are staring at these paintings but no one has put it together that they're of me."

Amy looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think when we transform, something happens to make us unrecognizable. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I think it's either some kind of visual charm that makes us appear different – or else some kind of external spell that makes anyone who looks at us see us as slightly different than how we are."

"Oh," said Serena, pretending to understand.

"Look, I think that's Raye over there," said Amy, pointing.

Serena turned and her elevated mood plummeted as she saw Raye looking frustratingly gorgeous in a form-fitting red dress that came to rest a few inches above her knees. Her jet-black hair hung loose around her body swishing this way and that as she moved. She held a long-stemmed rose in between her fingers and Serena felt as though Raye looked like a far more fitting object of an artist's inspiration than _she_ ever would. Raye noticed them looking at her and returned a small smile while gently tugging on the arm of her companion. His back was to Amy and Serena, but they saw a tall, lean man with slightly broadened shoulders and ebony hair that matched Raye's flawlessly. Amy and Serena crossed the floor to say hello.

"Hi Raye," said Amy, cheerfully. "Where'd you get the rose?"

"Oh hi," said Raye, pulling on the arm of her escort. "He brought it for me. This is my boyfriend, Darien."

As he turned around to meet Raye's new friends, Serena's face turned ashen. Immediately noticing the tension that had just taken up the room, Raye spoke up: "Do you two know each other?"

Darien grinned and replied: "It's the Meatball-Head Starbucks girl!"

Serena grimaced. Luckily, Amy swooped in for the rescue. "Hi, Darien!" she said brightly.

Darien looked over at Amy and immediately straightened up. "Amy! How's it going? How do you know Raye?"

"Um," Amy began, hating to lie. "We met—"

"Darien, how do you know Amy?" Raye interrupted.

"She's a client of mine, babe," he said, slipping an arm around her waist. "I'm representing her in that big acquisition I was telling you about."

"Oh," said Raye, raising an eyebrow.

"So, Darien," said Amy, eager to change the subject. "What do you think of Molly Baker's work?"

Darien coughed. "Well, I think her style is competent enough…but her subject is kind of…" He hesitated.

"Kind of…?" Serena pushed.

"Eh," Darien replied. "Just kind of pedestrian, I guess. Infantile. It's the stuff of comic books. I stopped reading those when I was ten."

"Okay…" said Serena, tentatively.

"I mean, just look at this one," said Darien, pointing to a painting showing Serena in an action shot having just hurled her tiara at a hulking, menacing monster. "Her expression does nothing to inspire confidence. She looks almost…fearful. Like she has no idea what she's doing. I mean, I certainly wouldn't sleep any easier knowing this kid's got my back."

Serena seethed. "And what would you do to save the city from a monster? Throw your little rose at it?"

Raye glared at Serena. Trying to make peace, Amy pointed at a passing server. "Oh, look! More champagne! Serena?"

Wordlessly, Serena joined Amy to exchange their empty champagne flutes for full ones.

"God, he is a nightmare!" Serena hissed, once they were out of earshot.

"Everyone says that," said Amy, "but he isn't so bad once you get to know him."

"Ugh. I don't ever want to get to know him. He and Raye are perfect for each other, if you ask me. He's a pretentious snob and she's…well…she's just mean."

"Serena," Amy cautioned. "Like her or not, you're going to have to get along with Raye. She's one of us and we all need each other if we're going to fight off the Negaverse."

Serena snorted. "You and I were doing just fine before she showed up."

"The demons we've been fighting have been getting progressively stronger," said Amy. "I'm not convinced we could've taken down that last one without Mars' fire."

"Whatever," said Serena, and she tipped back the champagne flute and downed its contents in a single gulp.

Dark clouds had rolled in off the Atlantic and were threatening to burst and drench Bryant Park with torrents of rain. The demon Cameran was vanquished, but the damage was done. Both of Raye's wrists had been twisted when Cameran threw her to the ground and she attempted to catch herself with her outstretched arms. Amy now sported two black eyes and was busy pulling twigs and debris from her hair. Serena had a long laceration in her back from where the demon's dark energy had struck her. It was their most challenging – and terrifying – battle yet. They glanced at each other and said nothing, each tending her own wounds.

Serena slammed her apartment door behind her and moved slowly toward her bed. She flopped down face first and winced in pain.

"Serena?" came Luna's voice. She crawled out from under Serena's bed and leaped up to join her on top.

"What is it, Luna," said Serena, voice muffled by pillows.

"How did it go?"

Serena balled up her fists in anger. "How did it go?" she barked, lifting her head. "How did it _go_? I'll tell you how it went! We nearly got killed! Nephrite sent this ridiculous demon down to start some shit in the main branch of the New York Public Library and –"

"What were you doing at the library?" Luna asked, chuckling.

Serena narrowed her eyes. "Luna, now is not the time to question my literacy." Luna didn't respond. "Fine, Amy was there, she called me and Raye when it happened, you satisfied?" Again, Luna remained silent. "Anyway, so the thing is trashing the library and Raye gets all pissy about it saying something about 'destroying the city's architecture' so she makes us chase it outside to Bryant Park where it proceeds to completely pummel us."

"I assume it turned out well?"

"Only because Amy figured out some plan to disorient the thing so that Raye could have a chance to set it on fire."

"All's well that ends well, then," said Luna, matter-of-factly.

"All is not well!" Serena cried. "I didn't sign on for this!"

"For what, exactly?"

"For _this_," said Serena, sitting up and turning so that Luna could see the gash in her back. "I don't want any of this!"

Luna sighed. "Serena," she began, patiently. "I know as if you feel you lost some kind of cosmic lottery, like you were chosen out of billions of people at random for this monumental responsibility. But believe it or not, it isn't like that. You are the sworn defender of the Moon and you always have been. You just don't remember it. I know you think you can't do this, that you can't bear this responsibility, but you have to trust me when I tell you that you can. You and the others have the power to protect the universe from all the evil that threatens it."

"And if I don't?" Serena challenged.

Luna stared out her. "If…if you don't what, exactly?" she asked, sounding almost timid.

"If I choose not to fight. If I choose to ignore the past and just go on with my job and my life. What then?"

Luna looked at the floor, then at Serena, then at the floor again. After what seemed like forever, she finally lifted her head, looked Serena square in the eye and said, "I don't know what will happen, Serena. What I _do_ know is that without the full team, the Sailor Soldiers are greatly weakened. And I know that without the Sailor Soldiers, the planet – indeed the universe – doesn't stand a chance against the Negaverse."

Serena stood up and moved into her bathroom. She leaned on the sink and stared into the mirror at that sad and haggard girl in the reflection. It seemed she had aged years in the months since she learned she was Sailor Moon. Purplish shadows underscored her once vibrant blue eyes, which now appeared dull and bloodshot.

"I don't want this, Luna," she said softly. "I just want to be an ordinary girl."


	16. Chapter 15: Fear

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Fear**

"I want to know what scares you."

"The Democrats in power."

Raye wasn't amused. "Come on, Darien. I'm being serious here."

She had a way of looking at him that made him feel she could see inside his soul, like he couldn't hide from her. The mask he wore in his everyday life couldn't protect him from that stare.

"I—I don't know. What do you mean? I don't like clowns really."

"That's a phobia. And it's pathetic. I mean what scares you? What do you fear?"

Darien sighed. She wouldn't quit until he relented. She'd see through any attempt to evade the question. The trouble was, he knew exactly what she was searching for, but he had never allowed anyone in that deep inside him. But she felt different. He'd held many a woman in much the same way as he held Raye now, but none had had the power to break through the stone wall barricading his heart. Many had tried and failed. First there was Elizabeth. Darien broke up with her when she invited him to her parents' house in Ridgewood, New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Then there was Megan. She committed the mortal sin of leaving a bag of toiletries in his bathroom. And Catherine! She was the worst of them all. She had given him a tie for Christmas.

_And what the hell is wrong with a tie?_ Andrew had asked at the time.

_It's not the tie!_ Darien replied indignantly. _It's what the tie represents!_

Andrew rolled his eyes. _And what's that? Barneys couture?_

_No, Andrew. The tie represents a noose! A rope tied around my neck. She's trying to kill me. She's trying to rope me into foreverhood. She wants me to marry her and give her kids who will give me ties every year for my birthday. And every kid and every tie is another rope around my neck—_

_Darien, just stop. You're sounding like one of those guys on the subway who screams conspiracy theories at the top of his lungs while everyone uncomfortably ignores him._

But one look from Raye and Darien felt powerless. She was at the same time the tenderest and most violently angry woman he'd ever known. Her gaze made him feel exposed and vulnerable, like she held all the power and he was at her mercy.

"Well, what scares _you_?"

"Don't do that."

Darien sighed again. "I don't know. I guess…I guess it's the idea that I'll just go my entire life without…" He paused. He had never formulated the words before.

"Without?" she prodded.

"Without knowing who I really am." There. He'd said it.

"What do you mean?"

Darien took a breath and began: "I know you think that my parents and I had some kind of falling out and don't speak, but that's not exactly what happened." Raye looked up, surprised. Darien had told her that he and his parents weren't in touch anymore. "What actually happened was…well, they were killed when I was six."

Raye gasped. Her violet-hued eyes were filled with a rare showing of concern. He looked away. If there was one thing worse than her ire, it was her pity.

"We were actually all in the same car. We were coming back from a weekend in the Poconos and a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel on the George Washington Bridge. The car flipped and slammed into another car. I was the only one to come out of it. My mom, dad, and baby sister were all killed instantly." Raye said nothing so Darien went on. "The weird thing was, I only ended up with a couple scratches and a bump on the head. They said it was a miracle. So anyway, then I was taken into custody of the state. I lived in about thirteen foster homes until I aged out of the system at eighteen. I won a full ride to Princeton, moved to New York, met you, the end."

Raye didn't speak for about two minutes. Finally: "Don't you have any relatives that could've taken you in?"

"That's what I mean about not knowing who I really am. No one ever came to get me. The social workers didn't even know who to call. After they got me out, the gas tank exploded and the car was destroyed. No one came looking for me and no one could find any records of my family. They said I had memory loss or something. I—I can't even be sure my real name is Darien Hunter. But they asked me what my name was and apparently that's what I came up with."

Raye reached a hand up and touched Darien's cheek. "Thank you for telling me," she said softly. Darien shrugged. He had never told anyone his life story, save the admissions board at Princeton in his application essay.

"Your turn to tell me something," he replied, stroking her hair. Raye turned from her side to her back and lay flat on his bed looking up at him.

"What do you want to know?"

Darien's mind raced. He had so many questions he had wanted to ask her since they met, but he never dared before. Now that he had free license to invade her privacy, he couldn't decide which question to ask her first.

"What do your tattoos mean?" he asked. Her expression darkened as she brought her hand to her hip bone where two crows chased each other. She cast her gaze low and spoke so quietly, she was almost inaudible.

"This one is Phobos," she said indicating one of the two crows permanently inked on her left hip. "And this," she said pointing to the other one, "is Deimos."

"You named them?" Darien asked skeptically.

"Yes," said Raye. "Phobos was the Greek god of fear. Well, he wasn't a god exactly. More like a personification. A physical manifestation of the human emotion of fear. And Deimos is the manifestation of dread."

"Fear and dread?" asked Darien quizzically. He knew better than to laugh at Raye or to think she was being melodramatic.

"Remember how I told you they were reminders?"

"Yes," Darien replied slowly. He had a sinking feeling in his gut. He didn't like where this was headed.

"Something happened to me. When I was little." Her voice quaked. "You see, my grandparents moved to the United States with my mom in the early sixties. My mom was about three. When she was thirteen, my grandmother died. Grandpa couldn't really deal with having a daughter. He was really strict and tried to control my mom, but she basically grew up American and by the time she was a teenager it was the late seventies so she really wanted her freedom." She paused and looked up at Darien. He nodded, urging her to continue. "She ran off with some guy she met in college. They both dropped out and the way I heard it, she was gone for years before turning up one day with me and without the guy. She wasn't married and Grandpa was really traditional. He felt that she had shamed him for having me out of wedlock. And the fact that he was a white guy? Forget it. They got into a huge fight and she left me with him."

"He raised you?" Darien asked.

"If that's what you call it," Raye answered coldly. "He took it out on me that my mother had disgraced the family. He completely controlled me. He said was I was a half-breed bastard." Darien gasped. "That wasn't even close to the worst thing he called me," Raye said. "I didn't even go to school until I left. I got legally emancipated at age sixteen."

"How did he keep you out of school? Isn't that illegal?"

"He home-schooled me. And I use the term 'schooled' very loosely. I don't think he gave me anything to read that was written after 1900. When I left, I didn't even know that women could vote."

"Jesus," Darien murmured.

Raye suddenly turned then exposing her bare shoulder to Darien. "See these here?" she said, reaching around with her right hand and pointing at the small pattern of scars dotting her left shoulder. Darien brushed his hand over them lightly. "Cigarette burns from when he caught me smoking one of his cigarettes. And this—" she said as she pulled aside her ebony locks revealing scar tissue etched into a Japanese character on the back of her neck, "is from when he caught me talking to a boy who lived next door."

"He—he carved this into your neck?" asked Darien incredulously. He suddenly felt foolish for having shared his past – or lack thereof – with her. What right had he to complain that he didn't know who he was when she had survived childhood raised by a psychopath?

"It means 'prostitute.'"

Darien swallowed hard.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked timidly. Raye nodded. She still had her back to him. "Why the crows? I mean, why would you ever want to reminded of that?"

"They symbolize the fear and dread that accompany war. Whenever Grandpa would get angry with me, I cowered in fear and lived in dread of his temper. I've been at war my whole life. Sometimes I'm so consumed by rage that I can't think straight. I need them there to remind me not to turn into him."

Darien remembered the fight they'd had when Mina Van Arsdale showed up at his apartment. Raye had thrown his Blackberry straight at his head and said vile things to him. Then she had made love to him slowly and tenderly immediately after. Her rages were predictably accompanied by contrition, her form of atonement. He hugged her tightly at that moment and breathed in her scent. "You're full of fire," he said. "I love that about you." Raye chuckled softly.

"You have no idea how right you are."


	17. Chapter 16: Sleep

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Sleep**

"Nephrite is weak," said Zoisite bitterly. "Beryl's patience with him is waning, I can feel it."

"Watch your own patience, Zoisite," Kunzite warned gently. "You have a fire inside you that kindles great passion. This is a virtue Beryl richly rewards when that passion breeds success. But your weakness is your impulsiveness. Impulsiveness breeds mistakes which we cannot afford at this late stage."

"I know, brother," said Zoisite affectionately. Kunzite had always looked out for him. Kunzite had tried to guide all his brothers-at-arms, but Jaedite was too inexperienced to know his faults and Nephrite too arrogant. Zoisite and Kunzite had a kinship with one another that transcended this lifetime.

"Your turn will come soon enough," said Kunzite as he gripped Zoisite's shoulder. He offered his kinsman a quick smile, meant to reassure him and then turned to go. "Remember, Zoisite. Your patience will be rewarded." Zoisite returned the smile and watched as Kunzite left. When he was gone, the fire returned to Zoisite's eyes. _I'll be damned if Nephrite is the one to win Beryl's favor._

Elsewhere in the onyx castle, an impatient Beryl paced back and forth before the altar of Metalia.

"Haven't I waited long enough?" Beryl demanded. "Why don't I have the Silver Crystal yet!"

"Patience, Beryl," came Metalia's low, gravelly voice from the sepulcher that contained her spirit. "Your work is paying off. You have obtained enough energy that I was able to generate this." A dark smoky-gray crystal arose out of the sepulcher and floated toward Beryl.

"What is this?" she asked as she plucked the crystal from mid-air and examined it.

"This is the Dark Crystal. It is a powerful locator for the Rainbow Crystals."

"Ah, yes," breathed Beryl, as recognition returned to her. "The Rainbow Crystals!"

"Once the Rainbow Crystals are revealed, so too will be the Silver Crystal. When you possess the Silver Crystal, your power will be unmatched!"

It was deep into the night and barely a soul stirred in the castle. Under cover of shadow, a hooded figure crept through the halls, which were silent as a tomb. When the shrouded figure came upon his destination, he pushed through the door and slipped inside the room without making a sound. Silently, he approached the sleeping man in the bed. Long brown locks splayed across the pillow as his chest rose and fell in a consistent rhythm.

The cloaked man stepped closer to the bed until he stood directly over its occupant. He slowly outstretched his hands and placed them at the throat of the sleeping Nephrite. He took a breath and clenched his fingers tight. Nephrite's eyes shot open and he stared at his assailant with a look that simultaneously conveyed shock, anger, and terror. The assailant's hands closed tighter around his neck until he heard a snap and Nephrite's eyes fluttered to a close, never to open again.

"Sleep well, brother."

"The death of Nephrite has shaken us all," said Queen Beryl soberly as she addressed her subjects. "But our Kingdom is no stranger to tragedy. We have been living with the tragedy dealt to us by the hand of Serenity for a very long time. But I have great news to share with you all. We have taken a significant step forward in our quest for the Silver Crystal. Look upon this!" She revealed the Dark Crystal and an awed hush came over the assembled crowd. "This Crystal will locate the seven Rainbow Crystals. Once we have collected all seven, the Silver Crystal will be revealed and this universe will be ruled by the forces of the Negaverse!" The crowd erupted into echoes of cheers and applause. Beryl waited a few moments before raising her hand to silence the crowd. "Come forth, Zoisite!"

The crowd parted as Zoisite made his way toward the front dressed in his black uniform to symbolize his mourning the death of his brother. He passed the crowd and strode confidently toward Beryl's throne where he immediately fell to his knees.

"I give this Dark Crystal to you, Zoisite, because you have proven yourself an asset to our cause. Find the seven Rainbow Crystals and bring them back to me. Do not fail, Zoisite, and you will be remembered throughout history."

Zoisite stood up gracefully and accepted the Dark Crystal from his Queen. "I will not fail you, Majesty," he said humbly.

"Now go to Earth, find the Crystals!"

Zoisite turned and marched back toward the crowd, which again parted so that he could pass. On his way out he passed Kunzite, who was beaming with pride. When he was alone, Zoisite drew the Dark Crystal from his coat and commanded: "Dark Crystal! Show me the face of a Rainbow Crystal carrier!"

A young man of about twenty-five appeared in an image projected from the Crystal. Zoisite smiled. "You shall be my first victory."


	18. Chapter 17: Electricity

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Electricity**

The city was buzzing with stories of Sailor Moon. The Post ran a front-page story about her and the Sailor Soldiers, as the paper called them, nearly every day. Lita was a lifelong New Yorker so it took a lot to phase her, but even she had to admit, the monster she saw at the Philharmonic concert rattled her. She caught a glimpse of the Sailor Soldiers, but Andrew had rushed her away from the Cathedral before anything really dramatic happened. Apart from the monster's debut, the date was wonderful. Andrew was sweet and attentive, held doors, paid for cabs, and even brought her a bouquet of pink roses when he picked her up. _To match the earrings you always wear_, he had said.

Lita sighed happily and proceeded down the street. Her mind soon drifted to zucchini bread and stuffed clams and braised brisket. Her reverie was cut short when she thought she heard a commotion coming from up the street. Up ahead Lita noticed a tall, heavy-set man engaged in some kind of tussle with a young woman. _Are they making out?_ Lita wondered.

"HELP!"

Lita snapped to attention. _Oh shit, she's getting mugged!_ Without thinking, Lita started to run toward the struggling pair. When she was within about five feet, she dropped her Balenciaga tote to the sidewalk and shouted: "Hey! Get off her!"

The assailant turned his attention away from his victim and toward Lita. "Get lost, bitch, this doesn't concern you!"

Lita burned bright red and advanced on the attacker. "I mean it, let her go," she commanded. He snorted and released the girl who fell to the ground and burst into tears. He approached Lita and raised his right fist. As it came careening toward her face, Lita blocked his arm with both hands and raised her knee to the swath of rib he left uncovered on his right side. He contorted his face in pain and shock and immediately brought both hands to his right side to assuage the throbbing. _Stupid_, Lita thought as she delivered a powerful right hook to his now-exposed left cheekbone. His face began to turn red and swell immediately. He reached his left hand up to his face and glared at Lita. She stared calmly back at him and waited. They were equally matched in height, but his bulk dwarfed her slender frame. Still, Lita knew how strong she was. Super-human, she had been called once upon a time. He growled and lunged toward her, but Lita was too fast. She quickly moved to the side, pulled back, and unleashed one final blow to the middle of his face. She felt the bones of his nose shatter against her fist and she pulled away just before the blood began to gush.

He wailed and fell to the ground screaming and clutching his face. Lita took a few steps back, bent over to pick up her Balenciaga, and dusted off her skirt. Finally, she took notice of the young woman who was looking up at her in horror.

"Um, are you all right?" Lita asked.

The girl nodded. She looked shaken, but quickly scrambled to her feet. Lita smiled and continued to walk down the sidewalk. The girl was quickly shuffling along trying to keep up. Lita's long legs meant her stride was about three times the length of this girl's so she had to half-run, half-walk to keep pace.

"That was amazing!" she said excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," said Lita smiling down at her. Lita paused and stuck her hand out. "I'm Lita, by the way."

The girl grinned and eagerly shook her hand. "I'm Serena."

"You look a little shaken up, Serena. How about you come back to my place and I'll make you dinner?"

"That would be great!" Serena exclaimed. "I'm starving!"

"Wow, you live here alone?" Serena asked gaping as she looked all around Lita's apartment.

"Sure do. Here, why don't you have one of my homemade muffins to tide you over until dinner?" Lita came out of the kitchen and into the living room and offered Serena a muffin from a silver tray.

"Wow, Lita," said Serena as her eyes grew wide with anticipation. "You must really like to cook, huh?"

"Oh yeah," said Lita, beaming. "I love it. I love cooking for a ton of people."

"What a coincidence," said Serena. "I've got the appetite of a ton of people."

Lita giggled. "Well, you should definitely come by the next time I have a dinner party."

"I'd love to!" Serena exclaimed. She helped herself to a muffin laden with cranberries and vanilla chips. "So, Lita," she said between mouthfuls, "where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Lita disappeared into the kitchen again and Serena followed her. "When I was little, my parents had me in every extra-curricular activity known to man. I really liked karate and jiu jitsu. I got older and got into all the other forms of martial arts, but when my parents died, I got a trainer and learned boxing. Boxing is my absolute favorite sport."

"Your parents died?" Serena asked in that tone of mixed concern and surprise that people always used whenever they found out her parents had passed away.

"Yeah, but it was years ago. That's why I live here alone though."

"I'm sorry," said Serena, genuinely.

Lita shrugged. "It's not really a big deal."

Serena wandered out into the living room again and over to the mantle. She looked around at all the photos Lita kept there. "Are these your parents?" Serena asked pointing to a photo of Lita at age six sitting on her mother's lap while her father stood behind them and they all smiled proudly into the camera.

"Yeah, that's them," Lita said, not mentioning that it was the only photo of the three of them in existence.

Techno music blared into Lita's ears through the headphones of the iPod she had affixed to her left bicep as she ran through the trails of Central Park. She absolutely despised running, but adhered to a strict running regimen to keep the massive amounts of calories she consumed each day at bay. Her sneakered feet pounded the well-worn dirt path as the sun descended ever closer to the horizon bringing on the twilight. Ken hated that she ran at night. _Don't you know that twilight and dawn are peak hours for muggers and rapists? _he warned her on a regular basis. But Lita could take care of herself. As she rounded a curve, she came upon a clearing and stopped dead in her tracks. There in front of her was a red, robotic monster no fewer than ten feet tall hulking over a young woman who looked absolutely tiny by comparison. Lita immediately recognized her as Sailor Moon. Lita scooted behind a tree and watched, dumbstruck as the monster emitted from his arm a long cord at the end of which was a giant hammer. He slashed the hammer into the ground just narrowly missing Sailor Moon, who fell back landing on her rear end. She quickly scrambled to her feet as the demon brought the hammer around again.

_I should help her_, Lita thought. She hesitated. _But that thing is huge. And not human. Maybe I should call someone?_ The hammer came whizzing through the air and slamming into the ground again, this time grazing the side of Sailor Moon's arm. She wailed in pain, gripping her arm in an attempt to stop the blood that came pouring out. _I've definitely got to help her_, Lita decided. She tiptoed through the trees hoping to remain unseen so that she could get a tactical advantage on the demon. She positioned herself behind a tree right behind it. It didn't notice her as it was busy attempting to bludgeon Sailor Moon. For her part, Sailor Moon was running back and forth screaming and dodging the hammer. _Wait for it_, Lita thought as she stared straight into the back of the demon's head waiting for it to position itself just right. Finally, it pulled the hammer back and lifted it up, preparing to strike. Lita sprang from the woods and lunged at the demon. She shoved her shoulder into its side hard and as the demon toppled, she hoisted it up over her head. Her arms quivered under the weight and she felt an electrifying heat emanating from her forehead. A strength she had never known filled her body beginning at her toes with an electric tingle and rising up the length of her body. When it reached her arms, she hurled the demon as hard as she could into the bushes. The force knocked her backward and she fell to the ground.

"The fourth sign!" came a tinny voice from behind her. Lita looked around but saw no one. As the demon stirred in the bushes and tried to get up, Lita crawled backwards into the brush.

"Do something!" she shouted at Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon looked panicked. She raised her hand to her forehead, but before anything happened, a cord shot forth from the demon and grasped Sailor Moon like a vice grip around her waist.

"Oh, God," Lita murmured as she struggled to stand up.

"No wait!" came the small voice again. Lita looked to her left and to her right and still didn't see anyone there but a small cat with a patch of white fur in the shape of a crescent moon on her forehead.

"Is someone there?" Lita whispered. The cat drew closer. She had something in her mouth and dropped it on the ground next to Lita.

"Lita!" said the cat, clear as a bell.

Lita's eyes widened to the size of baseballs. "Oh, shit, you're talking!"

"Lita, there is no time!" exclaimed the cat. "Use this stick to transform. Say 'Jupiter power.' Do it now, before it's too late!"

Lita looked back at Sailor Moon who was turning blue. She tentatively picked up the green stick with the bizarre-looking symbol on it and said hesitantly, "Jupiter power?"

And the world disappeared around her. A bolt of lighting erupted from the end of the stick and struck in every direction. She was spinning and her body felt tingly, like a thousand static-electric shocks were stinging her body all at once. It wasn't painful, but an odd sensation. As the lightning enveloped her, her body was adorned in a brand new outfit. It matched Sailor Moon's but where Sailor Moon had blue, Lita had electric green, matching her eyes.

Sailor Moon's eyes widened at the sight of her. Lita felt a rush of power coursing through her body like a wave of electricity. Without any conscious effort, her body began to move in a way that felt oddly familiar. The sky darkened and Lita stared up at the heavens as a swirling mass of gray clouds began to form. She raised her hands to the sky and summoned the lightning down. A thick ribbon of electricity obliged and came crashing earthward. A small antenna arose from Lita's tiara and channeled the bolt, which she cast outward aiming at the demon with the incantation: "Jupiter thunder…CRASH!"

A cascade of lightning surged forward from Lita's outstretched arms and charged directly into the demon. Immediately, he released Sailor Moon and collapsed, powerless, to the ground.

"Wow, Sailor Jupiter, hi!" said Sailor Moon excitedly. "Thanks for saving me twice today!"

Lita looked confused. "Twice? What do you mean?"

"It's me, Serena!" she said grinning ear to ear.

Lita gasped as she started to recognize Sailor Moon as Serena.

The demon started to stir.

"What do we do with him?" Lita asked.

"Um, I have no idea," Serena confessed. "Usually they just turn to dust. But this one's different. He was a regular guy – I think his name is Joe – and then this Negaverse lackey appeared from nowhere and turned him into this monster…but not before he cast some kind of spell on him and took a crystal out of his chest!"

Lita raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know how that sounds."

Luna appeared from the underbrush just then dragging something heavy behind her.

"What's that?" asked Serena. She knelt down to pick up what Luna had been pulling. It was a wand with a crescent moon sitting on top.

"You need to use this to turn him back into his old self," said Luna, struggling to catch her breath.

"Neato," said Serena. "Where'd you get it?"

"We'll discuss the details later, Serena-"

"You always say that," Serena whined.

"—It's the Crescent Mood Wand. Now just say 'Moon healing activation,' and he'll be human again."

Serena sighed. She turned to Lita and said, "This cat has been ordering me around for months now." She turned toward the demon, aimed the wand, and spoke: "Moon healing ACTIVATION!"

A blanket of shimmering light burst from the wand and covered the demon as he screamed in protest. Lita gaped as the robotic outer shell melted away and revealed a young man, about her age, with dark brown hair, chestnut eyes, and glasses. He collapsed to the ground and breathed rapidly as his heart rate returned to normal.

"Zoisite seems way more powerful than Nephrite was, huh Luna?" said Serena.

"Who?" said Lita.

Serena grinned. "How about I tell you all about the evil Negaverse and the job we've been selected to do over a plate of hot muffins? At your house?"

Lita laughed. "Sounds good to me. What do we do about him?" Lita said, gesturing toward the young man.

"Oh, he'll be just fine," Serena replied. She scooped Luna up in her arms and the three of them made their way out of the clearing and into the woods. "It all started," Serena began, "a few months ago. I was walking home from work, minding my own business, when this monster appeared from nowhere…"


	19. Chapter 18: Discipline

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Discipline**

After a long shift at work, Serena was grateful to finally climb the stairs and collapse into a seat on the bus. She struggled to keep her eyes open. She and the others had found themselves embroiled in battle with two more demons since the night Sailor Jupiter had been revealed. And both times, the Sailor Soldiers had managed to defeat them by the skin of their teeth. Each battle was more dangerous than the last as the demons seemed to increase in power. Serena brought her right hand to her left shoulder and tried to knead out the knot of tension that coalesced there. She ached all the time and hardly slept a wink anymore. Her eyelids became heavy as the bus lumbered along humming and rumbling rhythmically. Serena's eyes shot open as she remembered the last time she'd fallen asleep on public transportation. She had woken up in Coney Island at almost one in the morning. Determined never to let that happen again, Serena stood up and offered her seat to the woman standing before her. _If I fall asleep while standing_, she reasoned, _I'll probably bash my head on something on the way down and wake up._ As she reached up to find her grip on the overhead pole, Serena surveyed her fellow travelers. A frustrated mom was trying to put her young child's shoe back on while the child screamed bloody murder. An inconsiderate real estate broker was screaming into his cell phone about square footage and market values. Serena's eyes lingered a moment on the bulging biceps of bandanda-ed, mustachioed biker guy. There, emblazoned in ink, was a balance scale with two hearts depicted in one of the scales weighing it down slightly. The words "Love + Justice" were etched just above the drawing. Serena smiled. _I like that!_

….

"Concentrate, Serena!" Luna commanded. "Don't let it move!"

Serena cast Luna an exasperated look and as soon as she did so, her tiara flung forward and lodged itself into a tree. They had been at it for hours. Lita owned a house up in the Catskill Mountains and the four Soldiers and Luna decided to spend the weekend there learning how to control and refine their powers. Amy had learned to freeze her bubbles so that when she expelled them, they'd cover the enemy and all their surroundings in a light dusting of frost. Raye and Lita seemed to eye each other suspiciously as they each tried to outdo the other in who could scorch the most trees. But Serena was having trouble with her tiara.

"Do it again, Serena," said Luna, patiently.

"Luna, why would I ever need to know how to throw the stupid thing and leave it hanging there in mid-air? Chances are, whatever's making me want to throw my tiara at it, I'm going to want it dead!"

"Serena," said Luna, her patience close to the edge, "the important thing to learn is control. You have to be able to exercise complete dominion over your powers." Luna turned to the others. "And that goes for all of you. That's why we're here."

"Besides," Raye chimed in. "What if you're aiming at a demon, you throw your tiara, but then he picks up some six-year-old kid and holds him in front of his body. Don't you think you should know how to stop your tiara on command?"

"Imagine an invisible tether around your tiara and you've got the other end," Luna added.

Serena pouted and trudged over to the tree where her tiara had gotten stuck. She pulled and pulled but couldn't wrench it free. "Litaaaaaa?" she whined. Lita marched over to Serena and yanked the tiara free. "Thanks," Serena muttered.

Lita smiled. "Keep at it, you'll get it."

Serena sighed and glanced over at Amy who was sitting beneath a tree (and nowhere near Lita and Raye) and typing furiously on her laptop. "Ames, what are you doing?" Serena called.

Amy looked up excitedly. "You guys?" she said. "I think I've found something that's going to make our job a lot easier from here on out!"

….

"Amy?"

"Yes, Serena?"

"Are you one hundred percent sure that this is where we're supposed to be?"

"Yes, Serena. According to my program, this is the site of the next Negaverse attack."

"Can you explain how you figured this out again?"

"Serena," said Raye, angrily, "will you shut up?"

"Why don't you mind your own business, Raye?"

"Both of you – quiet!" Lita hissed.

The four of them were huddled together inside a giant plastic jungle gym just outside P.S. 184. Amy had explained to the others how StarScape had been reacting to unusual energy bursts and supplying Amy with data on their frequency, strength, and location of occurrence. With the data, she was able to generate a map and set up an algorithm to predict when the next burst would be. The high-energy bursts were directly correlative with Negaverse activity.

Just as the girls were beginning to feel a little silly, a woman clutching several file folders thick with papers came rushing out of the school. Her youthful visage was marred by a smudge of bright green finger paint just below her left eye. Serena suspected she was a kindergarten teacher. Suddenly, a shrill voice came down from the skies and echoed off the thick cement walls of the schoolyard:

"Veena!" it shrieked. And before anyone knew what was happening, Zoisite appeared with her familiar black crystal and began the extraction.

"Let's go!" said Raye, leading the charge out from under the jungle gym. But no sooner had they appeared than Zoisite disappeared, crystal in hand. Now she had four. The school teacher was gone and in her place stood the winged demon Veena poised for battle.

"And who are you supposed to be?" the demon drawled.

Serena spoke up confidently: "I am Sailor Moon! Champion of _love_ and _justice_! On behalf of the moon, I will punish you!"

For about four seconds, no one spoke. Veena looked confused. Then, the sound of laughter erupted and Serena was surprised to discover the source; she turned around to find her three friends hooting hysterically. Lita had thrown her head back and her diaphragm pulsed violently with laughter. Amy was covering her mouth in an attempt to be polite, but Serena could see her shoulders vibrating as she attempted to control herself. Raye had turned bright red and tears started streaming down her face. "What was _that_?" she managed to squawk between peals of laughter.

Serena placed a hand on her hip and scowled at her teammates. "I was just…I was trying something out, that's all," she explained.

"I am Sailor Moon! Champion of love and justice!" Raye mocked, which sent the girls into renewed gales of laughter.

"Oh come on, you guys, be mature." Serena blushed. She would deny it later, but at that moment she was slightly grateful when a boulder came hurtling toward them.

….

Darien leaned back in his desk chair and yawned. The moon had risen over the Atlantic and made the small waves glitter as if reflecting a million tiny stars. Everyone else had gone home hours earlier, but Darien was too restless to leave. He had been polishing up his presentation on CelesTech. Negotiations weren't going well between his clients and Galaxia Corporation and he feared he'd have to try to find a new buyer soon. He found himself loading a flash drive with a copy of StarScape in order to poke around for something new and fresh he could use in his presentation when he came across a strange blip in the program.

A loud mechanical buzzing noise awoke Darien hours later. Sunlight was now pouring in through the windows and Darien picked his head up off his desk in surprise. A paper clip that had gotten stuck to his face in the night slid off and came clinking down onto his desk. It was Saturday now and the cleaning crew was making its way through the office. Darien wiped a puddle of drool from the corner of his mouth with his shirt sleeve and glanced at the clock. Eleven-thirty. _Shit!_

He quickly gathered up his things and started to head out the office door. Then he stopped short and retraced his way back around his desk. He thought for a moment and then picked up the flash drive labeled 'StarScape' and slid it inside his jacket pocket.

When he reached the sidewalk, Darien was surprised by how warm it was. Winter was slowly fading and soon it would be Darien's favorite time of year. When warm weather made its first appearance of the year, so did skirts, sundresses, and shorts. Rather than groundhogs' shadows, robins, or crocuses, Darien considered short sleeves, low-cut neck lines, and bare legs as the first signs of spring. As Darien rounded the corner and made his way toward the subway, a familiar blonde crossed his path.

"Hey, Meatball-Head," Darien greeted her. Serena made a face when she noticed him, but quickly tried to hide it with a smile.

"What's up, Darien," she said mildly.

"I was just heading home, how about you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm on my way to work, I was just going to stop in here and grab lunch," she said, nodding her head toward the McDonald's.

Now it was Darien's turn to try to hide his disgust. "I can't believe you eat that stuff."

Serena shrugged. "We can't all be meat heads like you."

Darien laughed. "I'm the furthest thing from a meat head."

Serena examined Darien's clothed body and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know," she said. "Raye told us."

Darien flushed. "She _what_?"

Serena erupted in laughter. "Chill out, I'm _kidding_! Raye doesn't tell us anything about you during – you know – sexy time." She blushed.

Darien smiled at her youthful euphemism. "Well, can I join you for lunch then?"

Serena shrugged and Darien pulled open the heavy glass door for her and followed her inside the McDonald's.

"I don't think I've eaten here since I was eight years old," he remarked disdainfully while looking around at the crowded eatery. A single mom was corralling four young children into a corner booth and doling out small bags of French fries while they screamed with glee. A group of rowdy teenagers took up a second booth and began hurling straws at one another.

"Can I take your order?" asked the bored-looking teenage cashier behind the counter.

Serena smiled and announced cheerily: "Can I please have two McDoubles, a bag of fries, and a small Coke?" When Serena finished, Darien stared up at the menu confused.

"Um…I'll have…can I have…I'll just get the…"

"Just get the Angus deluxe," Serena whispered.

"Okay, yeah, the Angus deluxe, please?"

When their orders were ready, they took their trays to a nearby table and Serena immediately went to work on her meal. "All this for four dollars," she said between mouthfuls of food.

Darien picked up his burger and examined it hesitantly.

"Oh just do it!" Serena teased.

Darien sighed, raised the burger to his lips, opened his mouth wide, and took a big bite. Serena stared, awed. All of a sudden, Darien broke into a wide, lettuce-filled smile. "That's amazing," he conceded. Serena giggled.

"See? Everyone loves McDonald's! It transcends all earthly boundaries!"

When they had finished their meals, Serena wrapped up her extra burger and dropped it in the paper sack. "For later," she replied to Darien's un-asked question. Once outside again, they slipped into easy conversation: where she grew up, where he went to school, how she liked working at Starbucks, how he liked working in banking, favorite music, favorite movies.

"How have you never seen Star Wars?" Darien demanded ferociously.

Serena blinked her innocent blue eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. It just never happened. And now, it's been completely ruined for me by pop culture so I don't see the point in seeing it."

"But it's a classic!" Darien argued. "You _have_ to see it! Everyone has seen Star Wars!"

"Oh, what's the big deal? It's just a bunch of puppets running around."

Darien stopped in his tracks. "What did you just say?"

"Um."

"Look. It's an American tradition. It's like Thanksgiving. You need to see Star Wars. That's it, end of story."

"Look, I get it! The chick with the weird hair is Luke Skywalker's sister and Darth Vader is their father and a big bear thing helps out and saves the day or something and blah blah blah."

Darien resumed walking. "Okay, first of all, who are _you_ to call someone's hair weird? And second of all, he isn't a bear, he's a Wookiee."

"Same difference. Anyway, I just don't feel like I'm missing anything by not having seen it."

"I refuse to accept that, Serena," said Darien.

Serena smiled up at him. "I think that's the first time you ever called me Serena."

"I must be out of my mind about this whole not-having-seen-Star-Wars business." And with that, Darien launched into a tirade about the Republic and the Galactic Empire and Sith Lords and Jedi and Death Stars. He ranted for about ten minutes when he realized all of a sudden that Serena wasn't next to him anymore. Darien looked to his left and then to his right. She was gone. He turned around and scanned the street until he saw her about half a block behind him. She was engaged in a conversation – evidently hilarious considering the way she kept throwing her head back in full-bodied laughs every twelve seconds – with a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk just outside the Abercrombie & Fitch. He was dirty, disheveled, and wearing at least three coats despite the heat. Darien suspected he must have smelled pretty ripe, but if he did, Serena's expression didn't give it away. She was laughing and chatting as if she were talking to an old friend, not some random stranger on the street. At that point Darien noticed the homeless man was clutching a McDonald's bag and lunching on Serena's extra burger and leftover fries. A sudden twinge pulled at Darien's chest as a familiar feeling he couldn't name came over him. But he quickly brushed it aside.


	20. Chapter 19: Isolation

**CHAPTER NINETEEN: Isolation**

It was past two in the morning but Amy was alive with excitement. She had recalibrated StarScape to perform functions she had previously never dreamed of. She now had a precise map of Beryl's headquarters in space and felt as if she were on the verge of a breakthrough in discovering a portal into the Negaverse. She tapped furiously at her computer and tossed back espresso after espresso. Suddenly, her iPhone chirped to life snapping her out of her reverie.

_Are you still up?_

It was Ken. She smiled and began to punch in her affirmative response when a brilliant idea struck her mid-sentence and she snapped her head to attention. A slow smile pulled the corners of her lips northward. _An iPhone application!_ It was so simple, yet so brilliant. If she turned StarScape into an iPhone application, she could access it even in the midst of battle with Negaverse lackeys. Visions of GPS-enabled functions and data streams danced in Amy's head as she began to imagine the implications. Stricken with inspiration, she reached under her bed and pulled out a plastic storage container and hunted for the cord that would synch up her phone to her computer. She lifted the lid and frowned at the jumbled mess of her belongings. As she rooted through the chaos pulling items out and putting them back in as she searched in vain for the cord, she came across a high school yearbook. _Go Cougar Class of 2002!_ was etched into the front cover and two paw prints replaced the zeroes in the year. Amy smiled as she lifted the book out of the pile and opened the front cover. Most high school seniors had so many signatures scrawled into the inside covers that you couldn't discern one from the other. Amy's book bore only a few names. Amy flipped to the page that contained her photo. She had endured an extended awkward phase that didn't right itself until college. As she sat there tracing the image of her sixteen-year-old self bedecked in glasses and braces, Amy started to have a flashback.

….

She was thirteen years old and had so excelled in her math placement exams that they bused her over to the high school to take tenth grade geometry while her peers toiled over pre-algebra. Her mother, who had a firm belief that education was Amy's ticket to the good life, had stressed that in addition to academics, Amy needed to build out her resume with extracurricular activities. "For college applications," Delia Anderson had said at the time. Amy wasn't much of an athlete, or much for group social situations either, so she decided to form her own small club of peer tutors called, somewhat un-creatively, Peer Tutors. The faculty thought it was a brilliant idea and that students who were behind in their lessons were more likely to seek out help from a fellow student than a teacher, and Peer Tutors was born. Amy and a few other gifted students in her grade got together in the library after school and worked with their classmates on math, vocabulary, science, and writing.

Amy had been working with Cara Linwood for going on four weeks when one day, Cara burst into the library frantically waving a piece of paper back and forth.

"Amy!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh!" hissed the librarian from behind her vaulted desk. Cara ignored her.

"I got a B minus!" she cried.

Amy smiled genuinely. "That's great, Cara! I knew you could do it!" Cara had been earning steady Ds on her math tests and her parents warned her that if she didn't pull at least a C for the marking period, she could say goodbye to the trip to London she'd been promised for her birthday.

"Listen," said Cara, as she slid into the seat next to Amy. "I really want to do something for you since you helped me get my grade up."

"Oh, you don't have to—" Amy began, but Cara held up a hand to silence her.

"Annie and Dee are having a party on Saturday night and I want you to come," Cara said firmly. "I already checked with them and they don't mind if I invite you. Matt and Chris and all those guys are coming so it should be a good time."

Amy blushed. She had never been to a party with boys that didn't feature goody bags and magicians. "Oh, I don't know…"

"Amy," said Cara. "You need to come. People already think you're – you know – kinda boring and stuff. If you come, you'll show the other kids that you're normal."

On the night of the party, Amy's insides performed intricate acrobatics as she slowly made her way up the walk toward Annie Granger's house. She began to doubt her choice of denim skirt and white peasant blouse and thought about going home. She turned around and was about to make her way back down the walkway again when a bubbly voice called out: "Amy!" It was Cara. She slammed the door to an old red Chevy Bel Air and the driver, whom Amy presumed to be her older brother, peeled down the road.

"I'm surprised you came!" Cara sang, smiling cheerfully. "I'm glad you did though. This will be fun!"

There was no backing out now. Amy forced herself to smile as Cara looped her arm through Amy's and pulled her up to the front door and pushed the bell. Annie greeted them and led them down to the basement where the party was. A group of five guys Amy recognized from around school were cloistered around something on the coffee table. Amy couldn't see what it was and joined the group of girls that were huddled together at a table set up with sodas, pretzels, chips, cookies, and red cups.

"Okay, now that you're here," said Annie to Cara, "we can get started."

_Started?_ Amy wondered.

"Guys!" Annie yelled to the group of boys. "Want to play a game?"

One of the boys, an eighth grader by the name of Sam Harris poked his head up and replied: "What kind of game?"

"Put the Playboy away and I'll tell you," Annie replied coolly. Matt Tischler reluctantly rolled up the magazine and slid it under the couch. "Okay," Annie continued. "The game is Seven Minutes in Heaven. I think we all know the rules right?" Annie looked around and surveyed their faces. Amy didn't have any idea what the rules were as she'd never heard of the game. But she didn't dare reveal that. She nodded along as if she were an expert. _How hard could it be?_ she reasoned.

Annie reached into her backpack that had been tossed haphazardly into a corner and pulled out a notebook, a red marker, and a small, pink drawstring satchel. She brought the materials back to the center of the room where everyone had gathered in a circle. She opened the satchel and dumped its contents (a tube of Pink Berry Kiss lip gloss, a small mirror, and a package of Bubble Yum) out onto the floor. She tore a page from the notebook and then tore it into smaller pieces. Amy craned her neck to try to see what Annie was scribbling on the slips of paper without appearing too obvious. When Annie was finished she folded up all the slips and divided them into two piles. She put the pile closest to her in the satchel and then looked up: "Chris, give me your hat." At the command, Chris Stanson, a ruddy boy in Amy's homeroom who played on the soccer team, obeyed without a word and immediately handed Annie the navy blue Yankees cap that had been sitting on his mess of dirty-blond hair. Annie placed the other pile of papers into the cap.

"Okay, girls choose from the hat, boys choose from the satchel, who's first?"

Sheepish smiles and downcast glances played at the faces of the assembled party. Cara was the first to speak up. "It's your party, you should go first."

Annie smiled. "Fine!" She reached into the cap and withdrew a slip of paper. Amy watched, fascinated. "Mark!" Annie announced. She stood up and headed across the room stopping at a door and looking back at Mark expectantly. Mark Lipscomb was a slightly stocky, but good-looking boy with blond hair, emerald eyes, and a dimple in his left cheek that appeared at every smile. It was out in full glory at this point and Mark glanced back at the boys who taunted him good-naturedly as he joined Annie. Annie swung open the door and Amy could see it was a closet. The two entered the closet together and closed the door.

Amy stared at the closet door in horror. She began to panic as the minutes ticked by. She wanted to run from the house as fast as she could, but she felt as though she were nailed to the floor. _What do I do? What do I do?_ she thought, her mind racing. She was so distracted she didn't hear them calling her name at first.

"Amy, come on, get going!" said Cara glaring as she tugged the sleeve of Amy's blouse. Amy staggered to her feet and noticed Matt Tischler was holding the closet door open for her expectantly. Her heart freefell into her stomach as she slowly made her way into the closet. Matt came in just after her and closed the door behind him. They were alone.

"Um," Amy began, but before she could object, Matt's hands were everywhere. _Stop! Stop! _she wanted to shout, but the words wouldn't form. His lips found hers and smashed against them with the urgency characteristic of a teenage boy caught in the tempest of puberty and unchecked hormones. Amy felt sick to her stomach. When she felt Matt's hands reaching under her shirt and grazing the naked skin of her belly, she pressed both hands to his shoulders and pushed with all her might sending him tumbling backwards and into a pile of shoeboxes. The boxes came tumbling to the ground expelling their contents. They stood for a moment or two staring in silence at one another.

Finally, Matt broke the silence: "What a prude." His face contorted into a look of mixed derision and annoyance. Amy felt hot tears burning her eyes and she kicked a pair of gaudy platform pumps out of her way and burst through the door. Without facing the onslaught of expectation she felt sure was waiting for her, Amy hurried up the stairs and out the front door.

She trudged home feeling exposed and ashamed. When she arrived home, she went straight upstairs without a word to her mother who sat in the living room watching old _I Love Lucy_ reruns on Nick-at-Nite. Amy threw herself facedown onto her bed and cried until she was spent and fell into a troubled, restless sleep.

Unable to face her classmates the next day, Amy convinced her mother she had strep throat and was able to stay home from school for a few days. Amy figured it was best to lie low and that soon enough a new scandal would hit the school and her closet encounter would be old news. But when she returned to school, Amy couldn't help but notice the wide eyes and hushed voices which would silence the moment she came into earshot. She kept her head down and hugged her books tightly to her chest as she slowly made her way down the hall and toward her locker. She saw Cara and Annie huddled together at Cara's locker. Cara's back was to Amy and when Annie noticed her approach, she gave Cara a look. Cara turned.

"Amy! Hi," she said, her voice dripping with sweetness as synthetic as aspartame.

"Cara, what's going on? Why is everyone looking at me funny?" Amy asked worriedly, her eyes furrowed.

"Well, there have been a lot of rumors going around about you and Matt and," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "_what you did in the closet_."

Amy's jaw fell. "But I didn't—we didn't—nothing happened!"

Cara shrugged. "Yeah, that's what I figured. But Matt told all the guys you let him get to second base. And you know how kids are. They love good gossip!" Cara turned back to Annie and they slipped back into conversation. Amy was horrified.

….

Amy sighed and put the yearbook back into the container. She supposed she should have been grateful. Her social isolation resulted in plenty of free hours to devote to her schoolwork and allowed her to graduate from high school at age sixteen. She finished her undergraduate degree at Yale in three years and had completed a Master's degree in computer science from MIT by the time she was twenty-one. Her Master's thesis evolved into the StarScape program which had garnered her financial independence. So she supposed she owed a debt to Matt Tischler. For a moment, Amy had forgotten what she had pulled out the container for to begin with. She remembered when her phone emitted a short melodic burst of bells signaling she had another text message. This one was from Raye: _We need Mercury at the South Street Seaport – NOW!_


	21. Chapter 20: Interference

**CHAPTER TWENTY: Interference**

Darien's heart thudded in his chest as he peered around the corner of the building and watched as the Sailor Soldiers engaged in a heated argument with the man in black. He had heard the news of the mysterious women with unnatural powers battling strange and evil demons on television. He had even seen clips of them in action on YouTube. But somehow the shoddy videos, always taken with the video function of the phone of someone who was fleeing the scene, didn't quite live up to what he was now witnessing with his own eyes. One of them had doused the area in a frigid fog that left Darien shivering on his knees. Another had pulled a bolt of lightning from the sky and channeled it into her own body before expelling it in a blast of heat and energy. And another had created fire. But the small one who didn't seem to be too caught up in the action was the one who had caught his eye. Of course, he recognized her from the paintings that now peppered his walls at home, but here, in the flesh, she looked less like a warrior and more like a child – someone whom he felt compelled to protect for a reason he couldn't now name.

But now that he stood there, he suddenly regretted messing around with StarScape. The unnatural energy burst picked up by the program was centered around the South Street Seaport and since it was a quick walk from his office, he decided to check it out on his way home from work. When he got there he found the Soldiers mired in battle with a man dressed in a black uniform. His skin was as fair as a ghost and his long sandy-blond hair was secured in a tight ponytail. When Darien arrived, the man in black had a small girl in his grips and used a black crystal to paralyze her and extract a dark bluish purple crystal from within her small body. And now the child was gone and in her place was a demon with the face of a devil and the body of an orangutan. The man in black held the indigo crystal in the palm of his hand and glared at the Soldiers.

"Six down and one to go," he taunted. "Soon the Negaverse will have dominion over all seven Rainbow Crystals!"

Suddenly Darien remembered the leitmotif of his dreams. _The Rainbow Crystals._ The Princess was begging him to retrieve them in order to set her free. The man in black had leapt to the rooftop of the museum and bantered with the Soldiers who were still rushing this way and that on the cobblestone sidewalk to avoid the orange lasers tossed about by the demon that called itself Jiji. The man in black looked on in pleasure gently rolling the crystal back and forth between his fingers as the Soldiers endured the onslaught.

_If I can just get up that fire escape_, Darien thought. Quickly, he sprang into action and scaled the fire escape that hung onto the residential apartment complex neighboring the museum. It was an easy leap to the museum's rooftop and the man in black was busy watching the carnage unfold below him. He didn't notice Darien sneaking up behind him. Darien crept low and charged toward the man in black. He shoved his shoulders into his knees causing the man to buckle and tumble to the rooftop. He lost control of the crystal, which flew out of his hands and fell over the side of the roof.

"No!" he bellowed, scrambling to his feet and peering over the side of the roof. Darien turned to run, but the man in black, quick as lightning, grabbed Darien by the throat. Darien clutched at the man's hand, which was squeezing his throat tighter and tighter. Darien couldn't believe how incredibly strong this slight man was – it was inhuman.

"Darien!" came a feminine scream from the ground below. Darien tried to turn his head, but the man in black was cutting off his air supply. _That sounded like_—but before he could finish the thought, a face appeared in the sky and hovered over them like a giant storm cloud. The woman in the sky had glowing red eyes and wild red hair that radiated from her skull as if filled with static electricity. "Zoisite!" she barked. "Return at once!"

"One moment, Majesty," intoned the man in black, gripping his fingers ever tighter around Darien's throat. "Let me just get rid of this meddling human!"

"Zoisite – _never question me_! Leave him unharmed and return immediately!"

Zoisite reluctantly returned Darien to the rooftop and let go. Darien, red-faced and coughing, collapsed onto the roof and clutched his throat as he gasped for air.

"You're a very fortunate man," said Zoisite, and in a flash, he was gone.

….

"Majesty, here is the sixth Rainbow Crystal," said Zoisite, bowing low.

"Zoisite, I am impressed with your progress so I will forgive your transgression from earlier," said the steely Queen, extending her hand regally for Zoisite to kiss.

"Your Majesty is eternally gracious. But if I may so humbly inquire – why did Your Majesty see fit to let that man live? He cost me the Crystal!"

"Because," said Beryl, unable to conceal the smile that slowly spread across her face, "I recognized his face."

….

When Darien caught his breath, he scrambled back to the fire escape and raced down. Jiji was gone and the little girl was being consoled by a woman whom Darien presumed to be her mother. The Soldiers were nowhere in sight. It was now twilight and the sun was fading fast. Darien scoured the cobblestone plaza in search for the abandoned crystal. He searched storefronts and storm drains, any place he thought close enough to catch the crystal as it flew over the roof. Just as he was about to abandon hope, something shiny caught his eye. There, sitting among the sand and ash of an oversized ashtray, was the indigo crystal. Grinning, Darien picked it up, briefly examined it, and slid it into his inside jacket pocket.


	22. Chapter 21: Light

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Light**

"I can't believe you just left the sixth Rainbow Crystal there!" Luna fumed.

Serena hung her head. "Cops and media were on the way, we couldn't really hang around!"

Luna paced back and forth across the small, shag carpet in the center of Serena's apartment. The four girls were debriefing after their recent battle in the South Street Seaport. "You know the Negaverse will come back to get it. And then they'll have almost all of them! How could you be so careless?"

Serena's eyes brimmed with tears. "You know, I don't see _you_ sticking your neck out every damn week when these monsters come to town! I'm doing the best I can here!"

Amy rested a hand on Serena's shoulder and said, "We don't know that they came back for it. Darien might have it." The girls turned to face Raye.

"Yeah, what was he doing there anyway?" asked Lita.

Raye shrugged. "I have no idea. I have no idea how he even knows about the Crystals. But I can't exactly ask him without revealing why I know about them."

"Try to find out what he was doing there," said Luna. "And if he has the Crystal. If he does, at least we know that it's one less Crystal in the Negaverse's possession."

"Why are we assuming Darien's not working for the Negaverse?" asked Serena, suddenly picking her head up.

"What?" Raye snarled.

"No, seriously," said Serena. "Why in the world did he try to go after the Crystal?"

"Don't be stupid, Serena," said Raye. "He tried to _attack_ Zoisite. They clearly weren't working together."

Serena pursed her lips. She thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But we don't know what he wants the Crystals for and that scares me."

"Well whatever his reason is, I know it's not evil," said Raye matter-of-factly.

"I want to you try and see what you can figure out, Raye," said Luna.

….

"So," said Raye, broaching the subject gingerly. "What'd you do last night?" It was the following morning and they both were sitting on the couch in Darien's living room. Raye ran her fingers through Darien's hair as he stared, transfixed at Sportscenter. At the mention of the previous night, Darien's eyes darted up and toward the left so swiftly, it was almost imperceptible. But Raye had been studying him, searching for signs of the lie she knew was coming.

"Oh, I had dinner with a client at that Italian place in the Seaport."

"Oh yeah? I always wanted to try that place. Was it good?"

"It was fine."

"What'd you order?"

"Spaghetti Bolognese."

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, I wasn't really hungry."

"Big lunch?"

Suddenly Darien chuckled. "Yeah. Actually I ran into Serena and had lunch with her." As soon as it escaped his lips, he knew it was a mistake. But he'd been so caught up in diverting the conversation from his feigned whereabouts the night before that he messed up. Raye's expression darkened.

"Oh?" she asked slowly. "How did that happen?"

This time Darien turned to face her. "I just ran into her on my way out of work. She was going into McDonald's and I was hungry—"

"You ate McDonald's?"

"It wasn't that bad. Anyway, we got talking and we had lunch and then we went out separate ways." He looked into her eyes. "And that's it," he added for good measure.

Raye was eager to prod Darien on his lunch with Serena, but she had more pressing concerns at the moment. _He's not going to tell me_, she thought. Raye didn't say anything for a moment and turned her gaze to the television. The announcers were enthusiastically discussing the future of some hot young pitching prospect, but Raye wasn't listening. _Maybe instead of trying to have the difficult conversation, I could just search his apartment for the Crystal._ Her eyes lit up.

"Darien?" she asked, in a voice several octaves above her normal tone indicating she was about to ask for something.

"Yeah, babe?" he asked, not looking at her.

"Speaking of food, could you get us breakfast at Jim's?" Raye was referring to a local delicatessen so popular that lines often curled out the door and down the street on weekends.

"Um," said Darien reluctantly.

"Please?" she said smiling as she twirled a lock of his hair between her fingers.

Darien sighed and stood up. "You want your usual?" She nodded enthusiastically and grinned. "All right." Darien pulled a pair of jeans over his boxers and threw a Princeton University sweatshirt over his head. He grabbed his wallet, phone, and keys and was out the door. As soon as the door clicked to a close, Raye was on her feet. First she crossed the apartment to his bedroom and pulled open all his drawers. She rummaged past pairs of socks, t-shirts, the occasional dirty magazine – she'd have to remember to have a word with him later about that one – and boxer shorts, but no Crystal. After checking his kitchen cabinets and finding only bottles of Grey Goose, she glanced at the closed door next to the television. His office. _Of course_, she thought. It was always locked. If he had anything to hide, it'd be in there. She marched over to the door and tried the knob. Nothing. _Of course it wouldn't be that easy_, she thought. She tried to think of another way in. Then she gasped and ran toward the front door for her purse, which was sitting on a small table next to the door. She fished around the bag and said a silent _Yes!_ when she came up with a bobby pin. She dropped to her knees in front of the office door and stuck the bobby pin into the lock and twisted and turned it back and forth. Nothing.

"Oh right," she said aloud. "This isn't T.V. and I'm not MacGuyver."

Frustrated, she brushed her bangs away from her forehead. She glanced at the clock on Darien's Blu-Ray player and estimated she had about fifteen more minutes before Darien would return. Suddenly, Raye was struck by a flash of brilliance. She marched over to the landline phone installed on Darien's kitchen wall. All the fancy high-rise apartments in New York had landline phones for rapid communication between tenants, the front desk, and –

"Hi, I need a super in 30-C as soon as possible…thanks!"

Raye paced the living room until there was a heavy knock at the door. She threw it open and a man with the name Miguel stitched into his blue uniform bustled in gripping a black metal toolbox. "What can I do for you, miss?"

Raye tugged at her shirt and jutted her hip-bones out as she smiled sweetly at Miguel. "I am _so_ dumb," she began doing her best impression of a Valley Girl. "I accidentally locked myself out of the office! Can you help me, please?" She swished her shoulders back and forth.

"Of course, miss," said Miguel smiling ear to ear. He propped his toolbox up on the kitchen counter and popped it open. He pulled out a large key ring and found the skeleton key for Darien's apartment.

When the office was unlocked and Miguel gone, Raye estimated that she had about seven minutes to tear the office apart, put it back together, and get out before Darien returned. She pushed open the door and stepped inside. Her jaw dropped. Covering each wall were so many paintings of Sailor Moon that there was barely any white wall space left. Raye's cheeks burned crimson as she stepped close to the walls to examine each portrait. Sailor Moon was depicted both still and serene and in action stances, she was in the foreground and in the background, she was smiling and she was shouting.

"Oh, God," Raye murmured. She floated from painting to painting and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. _He's obsessed with her._

Suddenly, Darien's keys were in the door. Raye's face whitened and she turned and ran from the room, closing the door behind her. She fell into the couch just as Darien pushed his way into the living room.

"Hey, beautiful," he said. She tried to eke out a smile. "I'm surprised you didn't change the channel," said Darien.

"Huh? What?" asked Raye, flustered. Darien pointed at the television, which was still set to ESPN.

"Oh, that," said Raye, scrambling for a response. "There was this guy on. He was really cute. Do you have my sandwich?"

"I'll try not to be too jealous," said Darien winking as he handed Raye a white paper bag containing her lunch.

"Yeah, me either," Raye murmured under her breath.

….

"So you didn't find anything?" said Luna.

"Nope," said Raye, shaking her head. This time the girls were convened at Lita's house. Lita was eagerly bustling around making sure everyone sampled the hor d'uerves she had prepared. "If he has it, it's well hidden." She didn't tell them about the locked office and the shrine.

"Well maybe it doesn't matter anyway," said Serena standing up and brushing crumbs from her lap to the plush carpeted floor. "Darien's probably not a bad guy and as long as he has a Crystal, the Negaverse won't have all of them. I'm going to the bathroom." As Serena left the living room and made her way down the hall, Raye followed. Serena pushed open the bathroom door and said, "I won't be long."

"Serena," said Raye softly, looking away. "I need to know something."

Serena started to get nervous. She had never seen Raye look anything less than combative and now she looked almost—vulnerable. "Um, what is it, Raye?"

Raye didn't speak for a moment. Then she looked Serena in the eye and said, "You're not going to try to take Darien from me are you?"

Serena gasped. "God, no, Raye! I can't believe you would ask me that. What would even make you think that?"

Raye blushed. "I—I don't know. I just…sometimes I…I don't know. I get a little insecure I guess. And I heard you guys had lunch together the other day…I just thought…"

"Whoa, Raye," said Serena. "It was just lunch. It didn't mean anything. I would never, _ever_ try to steal your boyfriend."

Raye smiled a half smile and looked somewhat reassured. "You promise?"

"I promise."

….

Darien sat at his desk and unlocked the box he kept in the bottom drawer. The Crystal was beautiful. It was brighter than anything he'd ever seen. Whenever he looked at it, he felt the strange feelings of his dreams begin to intrude on his waking life. Images flashed into his consciousness. A bright silver lake. A white marble promenade. The princess.

Darien sighed and locked the Crystal back up and replaced the box to the bottom drawer. He fished a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and went out onto the terrace. He inhaled a long drag and blew it out slow and controlled. As he stared out over the Hudson at the quickly darkening skyline, a low rumble off in the distance suddenly grabbed his attention. He wondered if a storm was coming in off the sea. He didn't wonder for long though for soon an image filled the sky as if the sky were merely an artist's canvas. Darien gripped the edge of the stone wall so tight his knuckles turned white. It was Zoisite.

"Darien. You have something that belongs to me."

"You'll never get it back. It's mine."

"Don't be stupid, human. I want that Crystal and I'm going to get it. If you think I'll hesitate to kill you, you are foolishly mistaken."

"Then why haven't you done it yet?" Darien challenged.

Zoisite sneered. "Very well. If it's a battle for the Crystals you want, you'll get it. Meet me at the top of the Starlight Tower tomorrow at midnight. Winner takes all. Unless, of course, you're not up for it."

"I'll see you there."

Zoisite cackled and his image in the sky faded away. Darien looked down at his hands. The color was gone from his flesh and the cigarette had burned dangerously low. He stuffed it out and tossed it over the side of the building. _What have I gotten myself into?_

….

"Amy, that software of yours is broken," said Serena as the four Soldiers scoured the above-ground subway station at Queens Plaza looking for the seventh and final Rainbow Crystal carrier. The platform was abandoned save for a lone alley cat on the hunt for a rat. "There's no one here."

Suddenly the sky darkened and a human form shrouded in a heavy black cloak descended from the heavens. He landed with perfect agility on the platform. He was a striking figure, tall, with long hair almost electric in its whiteness. His face had angular, sharp features and his eyes were icy gray and his mouth curled in a twisted smile.

"Who are you!" Lita demanded.

"Yeah, where's that low-life Zoisite?" asked Serena.

"Zoisite is paying a visit to a foolish human who thought he could steal our Crystal and get away with it. My name is Kunzite. And it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies."

Raye looked panic-stricken. "Zoisite went after Darien?" she shrieked.

"We'll have to deal with that later," said Amy, placing her hand on Raye's shoulder.

"Well I have bad news for you, Kunzite," said Serena. "If you're after the seventh Crystal, you can just forget it. There's no one here."

Kunzite laughed a throaty laugh and replied, "Is that so?" And without another word, he raised his hands to the sky palms inward. A bolt of black energy charged between his hands and formed a black sphere that grew larger before their eyes.

"That can't be good," Serena murmured. "Mars? Jupiter?"

Lita and Raye both nodded and began to summon their powers. But halfway into their incantations, Kunzite let out a mighty cry and hurled the sphere toward the Soldiers. They screamed and braced themselves for impact, but felt nothing. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves trapped by the orb, which was growing incrementally smaller with each passing second.

"Oh, shit," said Lita.

Suddenly, Kunzite drew the dark crystal they were so used to seeing Zoisite wield.

"What is he doing?" asked Amy. "There's no one here!"

Suddenly, the alley cat, which had been about to summarily execute a rat in its clutches, sat frozen on the platform and a hollow opening in its abdomen revealed the seventh crystal glowing a radiant royal purple.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," said Raye.

"I knew my program worked," said Amy smiling.

"Really, Amy? Now?" said Serena.

The crystal hung suspended in the air and the feline carrier lay motionless on the concrete below it struggling to breathe. But the Soldiers were powerless. Kunzite was more formidable than any enemy they'd previously encountered. The orb began to shrink at a faster pace and the Soldiers crouched to their knees.

"What do we do?" shrieked Serena, panicking. But no one answered. Fear had choked them silent. _This is it_, Serena thought. _He's too strong for us._ But then—

"Venus crescent beam – SMASH!"

A ray of blinding light sliced through the air and struck the outside of the orb causing it to shatter into millions of tiny shards. The Soldiers looked up and saw the glittering image of an angel standing on the roof of the station. She had long, flowing blond hair that cascaded down her body and came to end just above her hips. She wore a sailor suit identical to theirs, but her signature color was a burning orange, like the sun just barely peeking over the horizon. Covering her baby-blue eyes were stylish, red Armani sunglasses. She leaped off the roof and landed agilely on the platform below and faced the Soldiers.

"Hi there," said the soldier in orange to her thunderstruck compatriots. "I'm Sailor Venus."

"Wow," said Serena. "Hi."

"Thanks for saving us," said Amy warmly.

"No problem," said Sailor Venus, smiling back.

"Well isn't this lovely," said Kunzite. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I must be off." And grinning like a Cheshire cat, he clutched the seventh and last Crystal and disappeared.


	23. Chapter 22: Revelation

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Revelation**

Serena turned and twisted this way and that engaged in an epic tussle with her bed sheets. Sleep was hard to come by these days and even the Ambien she popped several hours earlier had failed to take effect. Her mind wouldn't stop working as she tried to process everything that had happened that day. They barely got away with their lives. If it wasn't for Sailor Venus, they would have been killed. Kunzite was by far the most powerful demon they faced yet. Serena wasn't sure they could survive another battle with him. She tried to think about how she could have done things differently, how she could have been more prepared. But her mind kept drifting back to something else.

_You're not going to try to take Darien from me are you?_

Sincerity that bordered on desperation was evident in Raye's voice and Serena couldn't get it out of her head and she had no idea why. She certainly wasn't _interested_ in Darien. At least, not in the way Raye feared. When she thought about Darien several adjectives sprung to mind: arrogant, rude, stuck-up, sexist. Why Raye thought she'd ever want to become embroiled in Darien's drama was beyond her. Unless – did Darien say something to Raye about her? Serena hated to admit it, but the thought kind of excited her.

She kicked the sheet off her body and to the floor where it fell on top of a sleeping Luna.

….

Most Catholic churches in the city had been renovated with plush velvet pillows on which the parishioners could kneel as they prayed. But Raye preferred the cold stone floor of the chapel of St. Savior. Her hands were clasped and resting right against her lips as she prayed silently. She hadn't moved in almost an hour. A sense of foreboding crawled up her skin, the same sense that came every time her grandfather flew into one of his rages. _Something dark is coming._

….

"Citizens of the Negaverse!" Beryl bellowed. "Tonight we will witness a great victory!"

The throne room was mobbed with people who had turned out to watch the Queen send her finest warriors to Earth. Rumor had it that a great event was going to happen that night and by morning, the Silver Crystal would belong to the Queen.

"We have taken great strides in our battle for the Silver Crystal and tonight it comes to an end!" Thunderous applause echoed against the walls of the cavernous room. "Once the Silver Crystal is in my possession, there will be nothing to stop me from taking over the Earth and finally, after all this waiting, you will have a home to call your own! You will finally be able to walk on solid ground! Our rootless roaming will finally be at an end!" Beryl gazed out at the crowd before her. "Present yourself, Zoisite!"

The crowd parted and Zoisite marched with confidence toward the throne. He fell to his knees before his Queen.

"Zoisite. Go to Earth and bring the seven Rainbow Crystals back. Succeed in this task and a true hero's welcome awaits you."

"I live to serve Your Majesty's will," said Zoisite, his eyes rising to meet his Queen's. He rose and turned to go.

"One other thing, Zoisite," said Beryl, her voice barely above a whisper so that the crowd would not hear. Zoisite turned. Beryl narrowed her eyes and spoke in a steely tone: "He isn't to be harmed."

Zoisite gritted his teeth. "Of course, Majesty." He bowed low and disappeared.

….

Night had fallen and Serena shuffled along the sidewalk clutching a Venti-sized coffee, black, with three shots of espresso. She never did manage to fall asleep the night before. She was about to duck into the subway when she noticed a sign taped haphazardly to the telephone pole next to the entrance indicating track work and delayed schedules. She sighed and decided to walk. No sooner had she come to that decision than a bolt of lightning lit up the sky and a clap of thunder crashed over the city. Rain began to fall in buckets. _Damn it!_ Serena thought as she looked up the street for a cab. Spotting one, she stuck her hand into the air. As it came to a slow stop, Serena noticed an old woman coming out of the building next to her laden down by many shopping bags. They locked eyes and Serena smiled. Serena opened the door of the cab and gestured to the woman. She smiled gratefully up at Serena and slid into the cab. Serena closed the door behind her and darted back under the scaffolding. She scanned the street, but cabs were hard to come by in the Financial District. Just then she felt a vibration coming from her jacket pocket. It was a mass text from Amy: _Next attack - Starlight Tower, the roof, sometime around midnight._

Serena looked up and saw the Tower looming large just a few blocks away. She punched in a reply: _I'm right near there, I'll get a head start and look around._

….

Darien's stomach was in knots as he crossed the lobby of the Starlight Tower. _I am such a moron_, he told himself. _I could've at least brought some kind of weapon. _He pressed the 'Up' elevator button and waited, willing the storm outside to knock out the power so that the elevators wouldn't work. But the elevator doors soon opened and Darien took a breath and entered.

….

Serena burst into the Starlight Tower and gave a timid smile to the clerk at the desk. She tossed her long hair back and tried to squeeze out some of the rainwater. Tiny droplets peppered the floor beneath her as she dashed over to the elevator bank.

"Hold the elevator!" she called as she picked up the pace and darted into the elevator just as the doors were beginning to close. She looked at the panel of buttons and saw that the 'R' for roof was already lit up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" came an angry voice from behind her. Serena whirled around and found herself face to face with Darien. Serena made a face.

"I suppose I could ask you the same question," said Serena indignantly.

"I've—I've got business going on in this building."

"On the roof?" Serena questioned. Her eyes traveled his body and came to rest on the right front pocket of his tan khakis. A bright purple glow was emanating from the pocket casting an eerie glow. He caught her looking and quickly stuck his hand in his pocket. "Is that the Rainbow Crystal?" she asked without thinking.

Darien narrowed his eyes. "What do you know about the Rainbow Crystals?"

"What do _you_ know about them!"

Suddenly, the elevator came to a halt and went dark.

"Darien, what's going on?" Serena asked, trembling. She normally didn't get claustrophobic, but the darkness was thick with energy. Dread washed over her. She felt as if she were suffocating.

"I'm not sure, Serena. Don't be scared. I won't let anything happen to you."

The elevator hummed to life and began to move, but the lights didn't come back on. The elevator came to a slow stop and the doors slid apart revealing a rain-slicked rooftop. Waiting in the shadows was Zoisite, shielded from the pelting rain by a heavy dark cloak.

"I'm surprised you bothered to show up," said Zoisite, moving forward. "And you brought reinforcements, I see?"

"Leave her out of this!" said Darien in a commanding tone. Serena was slightly taken aback by the authority in his voice. He turned suddenly to Serena and took hold of her shoulders. He said, "Serena, stay over here by the door. No matter what happens, don't move!" Serena nodded and Darien let go. She spotted a large piece of cooling equipment and knelt down behind it.

"I have no intention to harm your little girlfriend. Just give me what I want and none of this needs to come to bloodshed."

"I'm not handing over the Crystal."

"You're a very foolish man, Darien. I could kill you with one flick of my wrist."

"I know you can," Darien admitted. "But in a fair fight, I'd win, no question."

Zoisite scoffed. "Please."

"It's true," Darien insisted. "Let's settle this man to man. No magic. No weapons. Hand to hand. We'll see who beats who."

Zoisite seemed to consider Darien's proposal. "Fine," he said. "Show me your Crystal first."

Darien reached into his pocket and pulled out the brilliant purple Crystal. "Now let's see yours."

Zoisite reached inside his cloak and when he removed his hand, six sparkling Crystals levitated just above his palm. "Now, put yours on that table over there and then I'll put mine down and then we'll get to it."

"I wasn't born yesterday."

Zoisite grimaced. "All right then. How about your little friend holds them for us?"

"I said leave her OUT of this!"

"You have my word she won't be harmed."

"Darien, it's okay," said Serena, standing up. "I'll be all right."

Darien didn't respond as Serena walked timidly over to Zoisite. She cupped her hands together in a bowl and waited. Finally, Zoisite dropped the six Crystals into Serena's waiting hands. She crossed the rooftop and looked up into Darien's eyes. _It's okay_, she mouthed. She managed a small smile. Darien swallowed as he looked down at the Crystal in his hand, the only key to his past. He dropped it into Serena's hands. Gripping all seven Rainbow Crystals in her small hands, Serena shuffled to the side of the roof deck and looked back at the two men who stood glaring at each other. Serena's hands began to grow warm under the weight of the Crystals and they glowed brighter and brighter as each second passed.

"Um…" she began. Zoisite and Darien looked back at her just in time to see the seven Crystals shoot up into the air, hover about four feet above Serena's head, and disappear into thin air.

Fury flashed across Zoisite's face. "What did you do with them?" he bellowed.

All the color drained from Serena's face. "Nothing! I don't know what happened! They just disappeared."

Zoisite's face contorted and he began to approach Serena. Serena told her feet to move, but they refused. Just then, Darien threw himself at Zoisite and the two fell to the ground kicking and punching one another. When Zoisite regained his footing, he caught Darien's throat between his hands and squeezed. Zoisite's strength was vastly superior to Darien's and he lifted him straight off the ground.

_I need to transform!_ Serena thought. _But then Darien will find out about me._ Zoisite tightened his grip on Darien's throat. Darien's face turned bright red and his eyes bulged and he scratched at Zoisite's hands. But Zoisite didn't loosen his grip. Serena looked back at the door hoping to see her friends burst through. But there was no sign of them. She was running out of time. Determined, she turned back to face Zoisite and Darien.

"Let him go, Zoisite!" she screeched. Zoisite didn't even look up.

"Moon Prism Power!"

Her clothes melted away and the world became silent around her. She had grown to love the transformation. It was the only time she felt truly at peace. It was as if all the world suspended its motion and she was the only one who existed. She felt quiet. She felt serene.

But in an instant, it was over. Serena was gone and Sailor Moon stood on the roof in her place.

Zoisite's jaw dropped and loosened his grip. Darien fell to the ground panting and gasping for air.

"Well, well!" he said. "Isn't this a lovely little surprise?"

"Shut it, Zoisite!"

"Tell me what you did with my Crystals, Sailor Moon, and I'll let you both live."

"I didn't do anything with them!"

"Very well. I'm afraid you'll have to die then."

Serena brought her fingertips to her tiara, but before she could remove it, a blade of rock gilded like a shining icicle ripped through the air and headed directly for her. She froze, paralyzed by fear. Suddenly, she felt her body being pushed to the ground. She looked up to find Darien on top of her, his eyes locked with hers. Tears pooled at the corner of Darien's eyes and Serena's heart slammed against the wall of her chest. She struggled for breath under the crushing force of his weight and wondered why he didn't let her up. Serena grasped the floor in an attempt to wriggle out from under Darien's body. Her hand slipped in something warm and wet. Serena looked and saw her white glove was stained red with blood. She gasped.

"Darien?"

"Serena," he murmured, life fading from his voice. He winced in pain as he lifted himself off her and fell to his side. The blade disappeared from where it was lodged in his shoulder leaving a gaping hole. He brought his hand to the wound to still the flow of blood that was rapidly escaping his body. Serena trembled as she reached out for him.

"You've…you've got to…get the Crystals," said Darien. His eyelids grew heavy as he succumbed to the pain and couldn't prop himself up anymore. He fell onto his back and his chest rose and fell rapidly as he drew deep breaths.

"Darien, don't! You can't give up!" Serena knelt over him and took his face in her hands. "Look at me, Darien!"

Just then, the four Soldiers burst out onto the roof with the two cats trailing right behind them.

"Sailor Moon!" shouted Lita. "Are you all right?"

Serena didn't answer her. "Darien! Stay awake!"

Raye rushed over to Darien's side and fell to her knees.

"Darien, come on, wake up!" she urged. "It's me, Raye!"

"This has been adorable, ladies," said Zoisite. He levitated a few feet off the ground and raised his hands over his head. He began to channel the dark energy in preparation for another attack. "But I've grown tired of all of you." Rain continued to crash down in buckets. The roof was bathed in darkness.

Just then, a tiny light emerged from the darkness. As the light glowed brighter, the rain began to lessen. Before long, the skies were dry and a brilliant lighted orb hung suspended in the air above the rooftop captivating all who looked upon it.

"The Silver Crystal!" Luna and Artemis gasped in unison.

It was the most beautiful thing Serena had ever seen. Although Darien lay broken and bleeding on the ground before her, she could not take her eyes off the Crystal. She felt it calling to her as she got to her feet and moved toward it. She wondered if the others felt its pull. But they were all paralyzed in their places. As she got closer, scenes flashed in her mind in short spurts. An image of a glassy gray lake frozen over and glittering in the moonlight. A magnificent castle bustling with people dancing and laughing. A white marble terrace with a view of the Earth looming large above. A man dressed in armor with a black cape and a gilded sword at his hip gazing directly at her with perfect love in his eyes.

Suddenly, Serena was on the roof of the Starlight Tower again. Shivers ran down her spine as her sailor suit melted away and was soon replaced by a flowing white gossamer gown.

"It's Sailor Moon!" Mina cried.

"_She's_ the Moon Princess!" Amy exclaimed.

"_This_ girl?" shrieked Zoisite in disbelief.

Still mesmerized, Serena watched as the Crescent Mood Wand materialized before her. The Silver Crystal slowly lodged itself in the crook of the moon. Serena reached out her hand and took hold of the wand. She held it close to her heart as she moved back to where Darien lay. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. Tears fell from the corners of his eyes and left tracks down the sides of his face. Serena knelt down, picked up his head, and placed it in her lap.

"It's been a long time since I've seen your face, Princess," said Zoisite. "With any luck, it'll be the last!" Dark energy encircled Zoisite's body.

Serena looked up at Zoisite then and brought the tip of the wand to her lips. "Cosmic Moon Power!" she murmured. A burst of pink light shot out of the Crystal and covered Zoisite from head to toe. He shrieked in pain and collapsed to the ground unconscious. Serena put the wand down on the ground beside her and looked into Darien's eyes.

"Darien," Serena whispered. "Say something, please."

"I—I remember," he said. "I was a Prince."

Serena felt a memory resurface. "Prince Darien of Earth. And I was Princess Serena of the Moon Kingdom. One day we were supposed to get married. But then—"

"The attack," Darien finished.

"It was the last time I saw you."

Raye felt sick as she watched Darien reach his hand up to touch Serena's cheek. He gazed at her with such love that Raye felt as if her heart were being torn from her chest. _I can't watch this_, she thought. She turned and broke out into a run toward the elevator.

"Mars, where are you going?" Amy called. But Raye didn't answer. As soon as the doors opened, she forced herself inside and pressed 'L' for lobby. Once the doors were closed behind her, she collapsed into the corner and tore her brooch from her chest. Her sailor uniform disappeared and her street clothes once again enveloped her small body. She hugged her knees into her chest and sobbed.


	24. Chapter 23: Responsibility

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Responsibility**

"All right, everyone," said Lita, bursting into the living room with a snack tray in each hand. An apron decorated with dragonflies hugged her slender frame. "I have snacks! These are salmon mousse in cucumber cups," she said placing the first tray down on the coffee table. Mina and Amy eagerly gathered around. Mina had brought Artemis who was now sunning himself lazily on a patch of Oriental rug that was bathed in sunbeams pouring in from outside. "And these," she said, "are fruit kabobs." Lita set the trays down and hurried back into the kitchen only to emerge seconds later with a carafe brimming with a thick, green liquid of some kind and four wine glasses. "And this," she said proudly, setting down the glasses and beginning to fill them, "is a kiwi lemonade. And by lemonade I mean fresh lemon juice. No sugar."

"Wow, Lita," said Mina, dragging a grape off a wooden skewer with her teeth. "This is an amazing spread!"

Lita beamed. "Not done yet!" she added with a wink. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two more trays. "Quiche cups! These have bacon and these are vegetarian. I saved the gruyere for the veggie quiche," she said, winking at Amy. Amy grinned and helped herself to four quiche cups and a fruit kabob.

Once everyone was situated with food and drink, the girls got down to business.

"I'm worried about Serena," Mina began. "She's acting so down lately. And weird too."

"And has anyone heard from Raye? She hasn't been answering my phone calls," said Lita.

"Ugh, I feel _awful_ for her," said Mina. "Imagine your boyfriend falling in love with some other girl right in front of you."

"It's so weird. Serena doesn't even like Darien," Lita added.

Lita was excited to have Mina Van Arsdale in her very own home and was surprised by how down-to-earth she was. Mina helped herself to a salmon mousse cup and replied, "Hey, Artemis. Get over here, we're discussing important things."

Artemis opened one eye and replied, "Sounds more like gossip to me."

"I'm still not even all that clear about what happened that night," said Lita.

Amy spoke up: "I haven't got it all figured out myself yet, but I think something happened when all seven Rainbow Crystals were together in Serena's hands. Something about her made them react and meld into the Silver Crystal."

"And I remember Luna saying something about the Moon Princess being revealed when the Silver Crystal is revealed," said Lita.

"I'm just glad we got out of there and got Darien into a hospital before Zoisite woke up," said Mina. "He looked pissed."

"Has anyone talked to Darien?" Amy asked the group. The others shook their heads.

"And Serena's been off the grid ever since. I called her and she was like a zombie. Very confused and muddled about the whole thing," added Mina. "She was talking about feeling like she had a split personality or something. It didn't make any sense."

"I don't really blame her," said Amy. "Or Darien either. I mean, it's like their subconscious has woken up and is fighting for prime time in their heads."

The others looked up quizzically.

"I'm sorry," Lita said, biting into a salmon cup. "What?"

Amy thought for a moment. Then her eyes lit up as she thought of a way to explain what she meant. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a notebook. She tore out a piece of paper and drew two circles on it. "These are Serena and Darien's brains," she said, writing an 'S' above one circle and a 'D' above the other.

"These are their now brains," Amy explained. "Their twenty-first century brains. Them as we know them. But here's what's happening…" She drew vertical lines down the middle of each circle bisecting them into two halves. With her pencil, she shaded in the left halves of both circles. "See these shaded parts?" she said, pointing. "These parts are their past lives converging on their present lives. After Starlight Tower, they were here at this halfway point, flooded with memories of their past lives. And now what I think is happening is that this shaded part is getting bigger and taking over more and more of their present selves. As these memories move from deep in their subconscious to their waking reality, they're dealing more and more with these conflicting emotions. Which is why they're acting so weird."

"Are you saying," Mina began, "that eventually their past memories will become their present realities?"

Amy shook her head. "I'm not saying that they will completely become who they were back during the Silver Millennium. I'm just saying that right now they're in transition. I think eventually their memories will completely resurface and they'll adjust."

"Adjust," Lita repeated. "So you mean…the point will come where they'll both remember everything about their past lives."

Amy nodded. "I think so."

"But what about us?" said Mina suddenly. "If Serena was the Moon Princess, it stands to reason that we had important roles in the old life too, right Artemis? Artemis? Artemis!" Mina hurled a grape, which hit Artemis squarely on the head. He glared at her.

"What, what do you want?"

"I _said_," Mina replied, the frustration in her voice evident, "that if Serena was the Moon Princess, the rest of us probably had important jobs too, right?"

"Oh, that," said Artemis, getting to his feet and ambling closer to the girls. "It's true. When the Crystal was revealed, Luna and I started to remember the old world too."

"…And?" Mina prodded.

"Well, I'd hate to inflate your already oversized ego, but each of you was Princess of your namesake planet."

Slow smiles spread across Lita's and Mina's faces. Amy was intrigued.

"But that's all I remember," said Artemis. "And I think I lived on the Moon. As a human. I don't know how I ended up with this basket case though." He gestured toward Mina, who grabbed his tail and gave it a sharp tug.

"Cats should be seen and not heard," she stated.

"It's all so interesting," Amy said dreamily. "I wonder what the civilization looked like, how the monarchies interacted, what the government looked like, what the social order was…"

Lita and Mina glanced at each other and spoke simultaneously: "Princesses!"

….

"Thanks for meeting with me," Darien said as he held open the door to his apartment and Amy walked in.

"Um, no problem. But I don't see why you didn't call Raye. Or Serena."

Darien sighed and helped himself to an Aspirin from the pile of them scattered across his kitchen counter. "I can't talk to them. They're my problem. Problems. I don't even know."

"I can't imagine what you must be going through," said Amy sympathetically.

"The thing is," said Darien, "is that my whole life I've searched for this. For the answer to who I really am. Now I know and I wish I didn't."

Amy didn't know what to say. She fell into a chair and looked at Darien expectantly. She was shocked to get his phone call asking if she'd come over to talk. They didn't know each other outside their professional relationship, but after the recent events, they'd become inextricably linked forever.

"I…I don't know what to do," Darien confessed. "I'm haunted by all these memories and they don't make any sense. My brain tells me that this life…_this_ life is the one that matters. The life I have here in New York with my job and with Raye…Raye. I love her, I know I do. But I also…I feel like I'm two people. Part of me is here and in love with Raye. The other part of me is stuck in the past, on the Moon, and so crazy in love with Serena that I'm ready to kill every living thing on the planet just to be with her. I can't reconcile these feelings and it's killing me inside. I can't be with them both. I don't even _want_ to be with them both."

"What _do_ you want?"

"I want things to make sense. I want to know who I am one way or the other. Right now, I feel like I have these two selves competing with one another: who I was then versus who I am now. That should be an easy choice," Darien reasoned. "I should just forget the old life and go with who I am now. But my past life is converging on my present life and fucking everything up."

"You need to talk to them both," said Amy resolutely. "Be honest with them about how you're feeling. Start with Raye. She's really upset."

Darien didn't respond. He had a feeling he knew how that conversation would go.

….

"Serena?" said Luna as she tapped her paw onto the small of Serena's back. Serena lay facedown on her bed immobile except for the regular rise and fall of her back as she breathed.

"What," came the muffled reply.

"I think we should talk about your responsibilities."

"My _what_?"

"Your responsibilities. As Princess."

"Hey, look out the window. This is America. There's no monarchy. I'm no more a princess than you are a…a…a zebra."

Luna sighed. "Serena, I'm adjusting to the new memories too and I've been speaking with Central Control, who's helping me process all this new information."

"Learn anything?"

"Well, Serena, I know that you have an epic battle ahead of you. And that you're destined to be Queen."

At this, Serena picked up her head and laughed. "A Queen? Ha! File that one under Things That Will Never Happen."

"I'm serious, Serena. It's your destiny. You must save the world from the Negaverse and you will become Queen. It's nothing you can fight so you should learn to accept it."

Serena gulped. She had a sudden flashback to middle school when, following a bizarre turn of events, she became the sixth-grade class president. Shelly Linton was the most popular girl in the grade and she had decided to run for class president. Around nomination time, Serena became the first kid in her homeroom to have a pool installed in her backyard (an extravagant gift from her father to her mother in what Serena would later learn was penance for a recently-discovered infidelity). Coincidentally, or so Serena believed at the time, Shelly decided that Serena should be her new best friend and running mate. So Serena spent afternoon upon afternoon creating campaign posters, getting frequent dizzy spells from the glue, and finding glitter everywhere – from under her fingernails to in her socks somehow. Serena toiled while Shelly dallied in the pool. Finally, it was election day and Shelly won easily. No sooner did the inaugural meeting occur than Shelly came down with a debilitating case of mono and had to resign the presidency. Serena, a most reluctant incumbent, dreaded the prospect of leading her class. She had no head for that kind of thing and was sure she would make a mess of it.

It eventually came time to take home Lady, the iguana that lived in one of the science classrooms, for the summer vacation; caring for Lady over the summer was the honor and solemn duty of the sixth grade class president. As soon as Serena got her home, she set Lady up in Sammy's room, for Lady gave her the creeps. Sammy, being ten years old at the time and thus an expert on all things creepy, was thrilled to have Lady as his very own for three whole months. This arrangement made Serena happy because she could ignore the leering lizard and concentrate on attaining the attention of the cute ninth-grade boy who lived next door. Sammy was happy because he had a pet utterly dependent on him, which made him feel very important, something he felt he was deprived of being the younger sibling. And Lady was happy because she had someone to drop bits of bacon and egg salad into her terrarium. By summer's end though, Lady was dead from kidney failure as a result of her poor diet. And Serena had to explain to the entire class via the public address system that she was guilty of reptilicide by her dreaded association with the ten-year-old assassin, earning her the moniker Lady Killer, a nickname which would stick with her until high school. After that, it would only resurface at the end of each year when it came time to sign yearbooks.

"I can't be a Queen!" Serena wailed, returning to the present. "It would be a disaster of epic proportions! I'm talking famine, interstellar war, economic collapse, mass suicides! I canNOT be a Queen!"

"Serena," said Luna patronizingly, "Don't you think you're being a tad melodramatic?"

Serena snorted. "Tell that to Lady."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Serena dragged herself off her bed and peeked through the peephole. It was Lita. Serena unbolted the door and pulled it open.

"Hi!" Lita greeted cheerily. Serena resented her friend's upbeat attitude for a moment and then noticed that Lita had two large shopping bags with her.

"Is that food?" Serena queried, eyeing the bags suspiciously.

"Would I come over here without food?"

For the first time that day, Serena smiled.

….

Raye's heart was in her throat as she gently rapped on the door to Darien's apartment. When he opened the door, she was taken aback by how pale and wan he looked. His hair was greasy and it looked like he hadn't bathed in a few days. She reached for him and thought she detected a moment's hesitation before he returned her embrace. She was afraid to speak first.

"Want something to drink?" Darien offered, gesturing toward his wine cabinet. Raye nodded her head, but headed for the freezer and removed a bottle of Grey Goose that had been chilling inside. She took a small tumbler out of the cabinet.

"Pour me one too?"

She pulled a second tumbler out of the cabinet and filled each with vodka about three fingers high. She took the glasses out of the kitchen area and joined Darien on the couch.

"Thanks," he mumbled when she handed him the glass. He tipped his head back and polished off the drink in one gulp. Raye sipped her glass timidly and waited.

"So, I guess we should talk about what happened at the Starlight Tower," Darien began tentatively. Raye didn't answer. "You have to understand how insane it felt to suddenly get bombarded by all these memories! And it was all confusing and weird, but at the same time it felt kind of like—I don't know, kind of like…going home. I felt like there was this hole in my life that just all of a sudden got filled."

"I didn't realize your life was so empty before."

"Come on, Raye, don't be like that. It isn't like that. But you know what I mean. After the accident and losing all memory of my family and my past, it felt kind of exhilarating to finally have some questions answered."

"I don't understand how learning about your past life answers any questions about the present one."

"Well, I just meant—well, I can't explain it I guess."

Raye turned to face Darien and looked into his eyes. "I just need to know where this leaves us."

"Raye, I just—" Darien began. He looked away from her. "I just think I need a break. Just for a little while. So I can figure some stuff out."

"A break," she repeated, all feeling drained from her voice. She stood up and headed for the door.

"Wait!" he called after her. "Stop. I'm not done here, we need to talk this out." He stood in front of her and ran his fingertips along her arm from her elbow to her shoulder.

"I—I can't—" she stammered. Suddenly, her heart started racing. She felt panicked. She couldn't stop herself. She sunk to her knees and buried her head in her hands. Her face grew hot and she felt the white hot tears stinging the corners of her eyes. He moved closer to her and she threw his arms around his waist and pulled him toward her. "Don't leave me," she whispered desperately. "I can't live without you. I won't." She hated herself instantly for it. "Please?"

"Raye, please don't do this to me," Darien pleaded. He hated hurting her. He hated the idea of her hurting herself.

She looked up at him, eyes brimming. "You're all I have."

Darien couldn't bring himself to answer.


	25. Chapter 24: Dawn

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Dawn**

Despite the fact that they lived so close, only across the Hudson in New Jersey, Serena didn't visit her parents much more often than the Big Three holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. It wasn't as if she didn't like spending time with her mom and dad; on the contrary, she always felt warm and safe in her ancestral home. But since her mother was a successful children's book author and her father a vice president in a pharmaceuticals company, and of course with Sam's success as an entrepreneur and software developer, Serena always felt like she was a huge disappointment and it pained her to go home and face that reality.

"Mom?" she asked as Karen Lawson bustled around busily making hot chocolate and warming up cookies for her troubled eldest child.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"What if," Serena began timidly, "you had an opportunity to do something…something great. If you succeeded, you'd be…making the world a better place." Karen nodded. "But even if you succeeded, no one would ever really know about it. And if you failed, well…you'd be dead."

Karen raised an eyebrow. "Honey, what are you talking about?"

"Let's just say there's this thing. You could do it or not do it. If you do it and you do it well, you've done something you could really be proud of, something that really means something. But no one's ever going to know that you're the one that did it. Or even that it needed to be done! And if you tried and failed, you'd be killed. And the whole world would suffer."

"Oh, honey," said Karen, running her fingers through her daughter's hair. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic. But I'm sure whatever it is that's bothering you will work itself out. You'll do the right thing, you always do." And she kissed her daughter on the forehead, collected her newspaper, and disappeared into the living room.

Despite her mother having been no help whatsoever, Serena felt comforted. She wished she could tell her mother everything: being Sailor Moon, being the Moon Princess, the Negaverse, Queen Beryl, the Silver Crystal. But she had a feeling that the moment she finished her saga, her mother would tie her to the backseat of her Toyota Camry and dump her off at the nearest psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Although, now that she thought about it, a nice room with thick, soft walls might be preferable to risking her life every time Beryl decided to send a minion down to Earth to start trouble.

Serena gripped her mug of cocoa and brought it to her lips. She inhaled the chocolatey aroma and wished she didn't ever have to leave her parents' protection.

….

Darien tossed and turned as his heart raced frenetically in his chest. Ever since Serena had been revealed as the Princess he'd sought his whole life, he'd stopped dreaming of her. Now he was plagued by a shapeless nightmare that consisted more of dark feelings of foreboding rather than any particular sequence of events.

A dark and raspy voice seethed in Darien's subconscious. _You'll betray the one you love._

….

Beryl's rage was palpable though she didn't scream. She was at her most dangerous not when she was flying off into a rage, but when she was almost meditatively quiet. Zoisite sank to his knees and quaked in fear.

"I'd like to know," Beryl began, "what exactly you were thinking at the Starlight Tower."

"M-Majesty, I—"

"I told you he wasn't to be touched, did I not?"

"You did, Majesty, but I—"

"And yet you deliberately disobeyed me, did you not?"

"Majesty, please believe it was an accident," Zoisite stammered. "The blade was meant for Sailor Moon. He got in the way and I—"

"It's been nothing but excuses with you, Zoisite. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you apart right here."

Zoisite trembled. "Majesty, I was able to retrieve six of the Rainbow Crystals—"

"And you lost them to Sailor Moon, who, as it turns out, is the Moon Princess! And after five minutes with the Silver Crystal she was able to knock you unconscious and get away! I lost the Silver Crystal and I lost Prince Darien all because you couldn't handle a young girl! You are worthless, Zoisite!" Beryl's dark crystal sprung to life with negative energy and Zoisite knew his time was up. Rather than beg for his life, he got to his feet and stared Beryl directly in the eye. A black bolt of energy shot forth from the crystal and instantly, Zoisite was vaporized.

….

In the cavernous depths of the onyx castle, a restless Beryl paced the length of her private chambers.

"I was so close," she murmured fretfully. "And now the Princess has been revealed. More and more of his memories of the Moon Kingdom are coming back with each passing day. The more he remembers, the harder it will be."

"It will be difficult," Metalia conceded, in her raspy alto. "But the reward will be great. With the Prince by your side, you will be unbeatable."

"How do I do it? Tell me how to win him over to our side!"

"The human spirit is a powerful thing to overcome. His body must be willing. His mind must be willing."

"I don't understand," said Beryl. "How do I get him to decide to be with me?"

"You must offer him something he cannot resist."

"But what!" Beryl shouted. Having come so close and losing Darien to the Princess again was wearing away Beryl's patience, but not her resolve.

"Perhaps it's time for him to learn the secret of his past."

Suddenly Beryl stopped in her tracks. A slow smile spread across her face as an idea came to her. "Yes, yes, his past. You know, I think perhaps it's time for more drastic measures," she said. "Perhaps it's time to take matters into my own hands."

….

Serena didn't know what she expected to happen when she arrived at Darien's front door. She could barely remember having walked there in the first place.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her, pouring vodka into a glass tumbler for her.

"It's awful," she said, downing the contents of the glass in one shot. "I just don't think I can do this."

They sat next to each other on the couch unconsciously filling and refilling their glasses with vodka in a constant rhythm: fill, drink, refill, drink. They paused only to unload their feelings on one another, each attempting to one-up the other in who could feel the most sorry for him or herself.

"I wish I could help," said Darien. "Shoulder the burden a little bit."

"I wish you could shoulder all of it," Serena replied, no hint of joking anywhere in her voice. Darien didn't reply but merely stared at her. Serena looked back and searched his face for something, anything to remind her that he was supposed to mean something to her. All she saw was a cocky, good-looking guy. No one special.

"It comes in waves, you know?" he said, reading her thoughts. "One minute I'll be like, yes, this is the girl I've been searching for my whole life. The next minute it'll be, who the hell _is_ this girl?"

"Right," Serena agreed. "I feel like it's one of those arranged marriage deals where they're telling you you'll grow to love each other in time."

"Ever wonder what would happen if we just…didn't?"

"Abdicate, you mean?"

"Well, yeah," said Darien. "I mean, what if we just didn't do what 'destiny' keeps telling us to do. What if we just went our separate ways and continued on with our lives?"

"I think about that all the time. But then the guilt weighs on me and I can't even breathe."

"I keep having these dreams," said Darien, running his fingers through his hair and tossing back some more vodka. "Like I'm going to do something terrible. But I don't know what it is or how I can stop it."

"I don't sleep anymore either," said Serena. The vodka was exercising its full effect on her now and instead of the light, happy feeling she was accustomed to when imbibing, she felt numb.

Darien's phone vibrated from inside his pocket and he pulled it out and examined the front.

"Raye," he said. He looked up at Serena. "I should take this." Serena nodded and moved out to the terrace. Darien answered his phone and turned his back to Serena.

Sorrow consumed her as she peered over the stone barrier that enclosed the terrace and she surveyed the city below her. Hardly anyone was out at this hour and the ambient light revealed bar rooftops, cars, and a wide expanse of black pavement down below. Serena's chest tightened and she felt as though she were choking. Hot tears stung the corners of her eyes and threatened to cascade down her face. _My life isn't mine_, she told herself. _Everything I ever knew is a lie. My mom and dad and Sam…they're not my real family. I don't belong anywhere._ The tears began to flow and Serena couldn't stop them. _I'm going to be fighting for the rest of my life and there's nothing I can do about it. I can fight or I can stay home and let the world be destroyed. What kind of choice is that?_

Serena felt light-headed and was barely aware of her actions as she stepped up onto the small table Darien had arranged out on the terrace. Once she was on it, it was easy to climb out on top of the ledge. It was wide enough to support her and she didn't need to balance. Without a barrier between her and New York below, Serena felt exhilarated all of a sudden. A small breeze cooled her face and she closed her eyes and outstretched her arms. _What if_, she thought. _Just one step forward and it's over. They can't make me fight. I'll go on my own terms._ Serena edged forward. _Just don't look down or you'll lose your nerve._ She edged forward again. _A few seconds and then it's all over. Like going to sleep._

"SERENA!"

Her eyes flew open and, startled, she lost her balance and began to wobble. Before she knew what was happening, her ankle had given way and she was falling.

But only for a moment.

Swift as lightning, Darien was hanging half over the ledge, his massive hand gripped tightly around Serena's slim wrist. Their eyes met: Darien's full of fear, Serena's calm, even though she was the one hanging down the side of a building, thirty stories above the sidewalk. As he held her life in his hand, Serena suddenly remembered. He was her Prince. Her one love throughout the Universe. The one who had saved her in war and died for her. And as she blinked back tears and studied Darien's expression, she could see that he was starting to remember as well. His lower lip began to tremble as he pulled her over the side of the building and down off the ledge and into his arms. He scooped her up and carried her inside his bedroom and gently set her down on the bed.

"I remember coming to the Moon the night of the last battle," Darien whispered as he lay next to Serena facing her and tracing her face with his left index finger.

"I gave you my Star Locket and you gave me a rose," said Serena.

"We danced one last dance before the dark forces invaded."

"We pledged our lives and she took us both."

Shared memories continued to awaken in them as the hours passed. Neither of them noticed as the sky lightened and they talked well into a new day.

….

As Raye leaned over the thin railing, all that separated her from the murky Hudson below was the feeble bit of metal wobbling against her weight. It wouldn't take much to hoist herself up and over and into the welcoming waters. Her mind started to wander. _They say drowning is the most peaceful way to die_, she thought. _Wouldn't take long with the current and the fact that I don't swim well. Still, I wonder how cold it is in there?_ She lifted her gaze from the waters below to the moonlit sky up above. _Damn, moon_, she thought. _I hate you. You ruined my life._

"You ruined everything!" she shouted, staring straight up at the moon. She reached inside her jacket pocket and removed the small wand Luna had given her ages ago. The first time she held it, she felt powerful, righteous. Now she looked at it and felt as though this small token had effectively removed all control she had over her own life. She held it in the palm of her left hand and delicately traced its features with her right index finger. Moonlight bounced off the golden orb that encased the symbol of Mars and made it shine brilliantly. _It's so beautiful_, Raye admitted reluctantly. _Still_, she thought, _all this trouble over one tiny little object._ She looked up at the sprinkle of lights across the Hudson and a thought suddenly occurred to her. _Who says I have to do this? I still have free will. I don't have to be Sailor Mars or Princess Mars or Mars anything._ Raye started to feel excited at the thought of rebelling against her destiny. At the same time, she was angry at the presumption that she would take up the Herculean task of acting as the world's protector. She had her own life to live.

She gripped the wand tightly in her fist and extended her arm out over the swirling Hudson River below. She let her hand go slack and watched as the shining red stick descended into the water and disappeared below its surface.

"Goodbye, Sailor Mars," she murmured.


	26. Chapter 25: Reflection

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Reflection**

Sticking her key into the front door of her building, Raye felt utterly wretched about the way she'd behaved at Darien's the last time she saw him. _I can't believe it_, she thought. _I begged. I actually begged!_ She had called him the night before to try to mitigate the damage. She explained that she had recently switched methods of birth control and tried to rationalize her outburst as a side effect of out-of-whack hormones. She wasn't sure he bought it. But he agreed to see her the next night.

She opened her mailbox and removed the fat collection of assembled mail that had piled up. She only opened her mailbox about once per week. She found that the only people who communicated with her by such an antiquated method were the electric company and the Internet provider. And since they only bothered her once per month, save for the occasional promotion, she felt it wasn't worth her time to open the mailbox every day just to throw out all the junk.

She trudged up the stairs and thought about moving. _Maybe I could start over out in California_, she thought. _Maybe up by Berkeley. I could go back to school. _She hadn't informed the girls that she officially quit being part of their hero team. She didn't feel as though she owed any of them anything. They could get on just fine without her, especially now that Sailor Venus had made the scene.

Upon entering her apartment, Raye dropped her mail, as she always did, on top of her microwave, which sat on a short end table next to her refrigerator in the kitchen area of her small studio. Occasionally, she would actually sift through her mail and separate the rare piece of important mail from the unending pile of store coupons, catalogs from places she'd patronized only once, and pre-approved credit card offers. One regular-sized crisp, white envelope managed to elude the pile and came wafting to the floor. As Raye bent down to pick it up, she noticed the return address in the top left corner: Meadows & Stagg, LLC. _A law firm?_ she thought quizzically as she picked up the envelope and took it to her desk. She sat down and tore the end off the envelope and slid the letter out. As she read, her face turned white.

_Dear Ms. Hino,_

_I regret to inform you that Takeo Hino has passed away intestate. As his only living relative, you have inherited all of his property including 6.2 acres of land in Maplewood, Pennsylvania. _

_Please contact me at the number below at your earliest possible convenience to discuss the execution of his estate._

_Sincerely,_

_Timothy Hale, Esq._

Raye put the letter down and stared at the wall. She felt numb.

….

She slammed the door and the taxi peeled away leaving Raye standing before the house she grew up in and hadn't seen since she was sixteen years old. She didn't know whether to sell it immediately or set it on fire. Dragging her wheeled suitcase behind her, she made her way up the walk and onto the front porch. She stuck her key into the lock and hesitated for a moment. Finally, she turned the key and pushed opened the door. As the familiar smell of ash and incense overtook her, she had to fight the onslaught of terrible memories that began to pummel her consciousness.

She stepped inside and took in her surroundings. It looked exactly the same as she'd remembered it: Japanese character scrolls hanging on the wall, tacky floral upholstered chairs in the living room, and tiny bonsai trees on every window sill. She made her way through the house and straight out the back door onto the wooden deck. She descended down the steps and nearly tripped over a board that had come loose. Righting herself, she saw centered in the backyard the pyre that her grandfather had burned every night. He'd sit there in front of the blazing fire and meditate for hours. It was her favorite time of day because she knew she'd have several hours free of his tyranny. She wandered back into the house and pushed open the door to the room that had been her bedroom. She felt like she stepped back in time. Nothing had changed. There was her set of Encyclopedias sitting pristine on her bookshelf. There was her small daybed adorned with plain white sheets and a gray comforter. In the closet hung four high-necked Puritan dresses that she rotated each day of the week.

Raye left her suitcase in her old bedroom and headed back outside. The air felt so clean out in the country. She was struck by how quiet it was. She was so used to the constant noise of the city that the quiet almost throbbed in her ears. As she walked down the stairs, she made sure to avoid the loose floorboard. As she scanned the steps to watch out for it, she thought she saw something white through the gap between the boards. She got to her knees and peered in the gap. Something was there. She wedged her fingers under the loose board and pulled. The board wouldn't break, but she was able to see slightly better and there underneath the stair was a white box.

Raye stood up and brushed the dust that had collected at her knees off and headed toward the woods. Stuck in a sawed-off tree trunk was the axe, still there after all these years. Raye pried it from the stump and dragged it back to the stairs. She raised it high above her head and felt a moment's hesitation. _It's my house now and I'll do what I want to it_, she reasoned as the axe came sailing down onto the stair. It didn't take many swings for the warped floorboard to come apart. Raye removed the shards of wood and peered into the space below what once was the second step. A white box ravaged by the passage of time was wedged into the earth below the stair. Raye removed it from the ground and set it upon her knees after taking a seat on a still-intact stair. Japanese symbols were engraved in the lid, but she didn't know what they meant. There was no lock on the front of the box so Raye picked it up and examined it from all angles. She discovered that it was opened by pushing in two circles on the sides and lifting the top up. When she got it open, it was empty except for a fading photograph and a folded white piece of paper. Pictured in the photo was a young woman in her twenties holding a small, smiling child with bright eyes and raven hair. Raye didn't remember when the photo was taken because the woman holding her four-year-old self was a stranger. She had no memories of her mother. She put the photograph aside and unfolded the paper. It was a letter.

_My darling girl,_

_If this letter has somehow reached you, I know you must have found your way back to Maplewood. After all that has happened to you here, I know that it must be difficult for you to return. I know that your life has been hard and I know that you must blame me. But know this – I never left you. I watched you grow up from afar. I'm sure this comes as little comfort to know that your mother bore witness to your suffering and I'm sure it does nothing to quell the rage you no doubt feel toward me. But whether you now realize it or not, you were being prepared for a great event in your life. You are not an ordinary girl with an ordinary destiny. You will be called upon to make a great sacrifice and when you are, you will find inside yourself the strength to do what needs to be done. You have an extraordinary power inside you. You'll know how to use it when the time comes. In the meantime, I remain always _

_Your loving mother_

The letter shook between Raye's trembling fingertips.

….

Hours later, Raye found herself dousing the backyard pyre with kerosene she found out in the shed. Using her grandfather's books and clothes as kindling, she lit a match and dropped it into the pile. It blew out before landing. She momentarily regretted that her transformation wand was currently gathering barnacles at the bottom of the Hudson River. After a few more unsuccessful tries, she finally had a fire going. By this time night had fallen and a crisp chill had taken over the suburb. She had seen her grandfather do this countless times during her childhood, but it was her first time kneeling before the fire. She clasped her hands together in prayer. For hours, she didn't move.

….

He expected her to scream. He expected her to swear. He expected her to hurl the crystal ashtray she was standing so precariously near straight toward his head. But Raye did none of these things. She merely stood out on his terrace with her elbows propping her chin up on the ledge as a thin line of smoke drifted upward from the cigarette dangling between her index and middle fingers. It frustrated him that he couldn't see her face, her reaction, but he didn't dare approach her.

"Raye, what we have," said Darien, "it isn't love. It's passion, it's excitement, it's fire – but it isn't love. I realize that now." He waited for her to reply. When she didn't, he continued: "I thought I was in love with you but what I really wanted was to…possess you. It's Serena that I love. And I'm so sorry."

She inhaled a long drag from the cigarette and turned to face him finally.

"Darien," she said. "I'm meant to do something important."

He wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly. He raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to respond, but she held her hand up to silence him.

"I realize now that my whole life has led up to this point. Something big is coming and my part in it is important. I've wasted so much time obsessing over stupid things. I've wasted so much time obsessing over…over you."

Darien felt insulted. "What are you saying?"

Raye sighed and stuffed the cigarette out on the ledge and flicked it over the side. She stepped inside the apartment and strode over to Darien. She cupped his face in her small hands and looked into his eyes. "I'm letting you go, Darien. I'm letting it all go."

She smiled and released him. As she headed toward the front door, Darien felt a sick feeling in his stomach begin to rise into his throat. He knew she had a tendency for self-inflicted pain and he feared what she meant by that last remark.

"Raye, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" he demanded.

She shook her head and grinned. "I'm going to do what I have to do, Darien," she said cryptically. "I'll see you on the other side."

When she was gone, Darien collapsed onto his couch and buried his face in his hands. _I'm not sure how much more of this I can take_, he thought miserably. No sooner had the thought formulated in his mind than a sharp wind came bursting in through the still-opened terrace door. Darien stood up and began to move toward the door to close it, but before he reached it, a shadowy figure began to take shape out on the terrace. He brought his hand to his face to shield his eyes as the wind came barreling toward him. After a few moments, all was still again. Darien removed his hand and found himself face to face with Beryl. Now armed with memories of his past, he knew her.

"What do you want?" he spat. Her fiery orange hair burned like a southwestern sunset and framed a face white as snow. Her eyes and lips were blood red. He waited for her to speak.

"I'm here to help you, Darien."

Darien scoffed. "There's nothing you can do for me but die."

He thought he saw a flash of pain momentarily occupy her expression, but he quickly dismissed the idea. She was a witch, incapable of any emotion, comprised entirely of darkness and evil.

"You still have an emptiness inside you," she pursued.

"What emptiness?"

"You thought everything would make sense once you found your princess, but your past still plagues you," she said. "You still walk with the guilt."

"Guilt?" Darien snapped. "What guilt?"

"The guilt of the survivor. You lived. They perished."

Darien stopped. His blood ran cold. He turned to face her.

"They?"

A wicked smile played at Beryl's lips. "Your family. They died in fire and fear and you walked away with barely a scratch. Didn't you ever wonder why?"

Darien's breath quickened. "How—how did you know about that?"

"Didn't you ever wonder why no one came to claim you?" Darien swallowed. Beryl continued: "I can tell you more, Darien. Just come back to my castle with me and I will tell you everything."

Darien turned his back again. "Not a chance, Beryl."

"Charles and Sharon Mercer."

Darien halted as a pang of recognition struck him like lightning. _Where do I know those names?_

"Your parents," Beryl answered.

He fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands. Beryl took a step closer. "Your sister was called Katie." Tears fell uncontrollably and splattered the stone beneath him like comets striking the surface of the Moon. "And you," said Beryl, extending her long, thin arm toward his face, "were David."

"David," Darien repeated.

"When you finally awoke in the hospital, you suffered from amnesia. They asked your name and something inside you told you to say 'Darien.' This was your name on Earth in the Silver Millennium. You called yourself 'Hunter' and you didn't know why. You didn't know that Endymion was the hunter."

"Endymion?"

"You want to know where you come from and I can help you," she whispered. Darien's eyes welled with tears. "I can give you the answers. I can show you all you want to know," said Beryl. "Just take my hand."

Darien wanted to resist, but he felt hypnotized by the desire to finally solve the mystery of his past. He extended his arm and as soon as his hand made contact with hers, they both vanished.


	27. Chapter 26: Tempest

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:** Tempest

The usual doom and gloom of the onyx castle had disappeared and was replaced with a rare exhibition of excitement and glee. Ever since she had brought the Earth Prince back to the castle she had been in the rarest of moods. She fluttered about the castle as if she were walking on air. The transformation was coming along well. Beryl entered the chamber where the Prince lay in an undisturbed stupor as Metalia's hypnotic spell washed over his body and invaded his memory. Beryl stood over and watched Darien's eyes flutter as though he were in the deepest of sleeps.

"We're almost through," breathed Metalia. Beryl could barely contain her joy. A few moments later, Darien's eyes opened and he stared unblinkingly up at the Queen above him. He slowly arose from the slate bed and stood up, his eyes never straying from Beryl's. Slowly, he sank to his knees and outstretched his hand. He brought her icy hand to his lips. Beryl felt as though her heart might burst at any moment.

"I am at your service, my Queen," said Darien in an even and rhythmic tone.

"Arise, my Prince," said Beryl, struggling to keep her voice in control. "You bow to no one. We shall rule the Negaverse as one!"

Darien stood and took his place next to Beryl. He offered her his arm which she accepted, barely able to stifle the grin spreading across her face.

….

Raye found herself inexplicably drawn to her ancestral home the last few days. She had driven her grandfather's old pick-up truck back into the city to pack up some belongings and to say goodbye to Darien. Back in Pennsylvania, she immersed herself in the herculean task of cleaning out the old house and restoring it to life.

After reading her mother's letter and consulting with the fire, Raye had felt a newfound purpose in her life. She felt empowered.

By the time darkness had begun to fall, Raye had hauled years' worth of old newspapers to the curb. Sweat beaded at her brow. As the chill of evening fell over the small town, Raye eagerly made her way around back and began to lug irregularly-sized hunks of wood onto the pyre. When she had finished she doused the wood with kerosene. Once lit, it didn't take long for the wood pile to become immersed in flame.

Raye took her place before the fire, clasped her hands together, and brought them to her lips. "Fire of Mars," she murmured. "Come to life." Sparks spewed out from the fire and sparkled against the cool, packed dirt around the pyre. Bright bursts of yellowish orange played against the dull red flame as blocks of wood split in two. "Give me the strength to face my enemy. Give me the power to vanquish him." The fire danced before her eyes as if in response to a silent orchestra.

….

"Metalia," Beryl began. She was starting to feel less sure of her plan. "I have my Prince. I believe it"s no longer necessary to pursue the Silver Crystal. We can return to our world and rule there, together. Why must we go through the trouble of battling the Sailor Soldiers?"

"Beryl, do you honestly believe that you will be able to escape back into that desolate and ruined Negaverse with Prince Darien without the Moon Princess following you there? Don't forget what happened on the Moon. Don't underestimate what she'll do to take him away from you. You must dispatch her here and now or you will never be able to live in peace. She will hunt you across the universe."

Beryl paused and thought this over. It was true that she had seen the Moon Princess make the ultimate sacrifice for Prince Darien once before. But was it possible she would pursue him beyond the boundaries of her own universe? Beryl decided she couldn't take the chance. She lost Darien once and knew she would be unable to deal with losing him again.

"You are right as ever, Metalia. Forgive me for doubting your plan."

"Beryl, I promise you that once you have that Crystal, nothing and no one will be able to stand between you and your Prince. Not the Moon Princess, not even the reincarnation of Serenity herself. Get that Crystal from Sailor Moon and all you ever dreamed of will be!"

"Yes!" Beryl exclaimed. She got to her feet and hastily exited Metalia's chambers. _Just a little while longer_, she thought. _A little while longer and Darien will be mine forever!_

….

"Thanks so much for letting me in, Miguel," said Serena warmly. "I normally wouldn't ask but Darien didn't show up for our date and he hasn't been responding to my messages."

"It's okay, miss."

"And it's not like he's blowing me off. He definitely isn't doing that."

"It's okay, miss."

"I mean, I totally wouldn't be breaking into his apartment if I thought that. You know? I'm not like some crazy stalker."

"It's okay, miss."

"I'm just worried about him is all. It's not like him to not answer his messages. Plus he hasn't shown up for work in a couple days."

"Okay."

"Not that I'm stalking him at work! I just happen to know someone who sorta works with him and he's missed some important meetings."

"Okay."

"I'm just worried about him is all."

Miguel nodded and closed the door to Darien's apartment behind him.

"Darien?" Serena called. "Are you here?" She pushed his bedroom door open. It was empty. She poked her head into the bathroom. It didn't take long for Serena to search his entire apartment. She checked his office and though she was momentarily pleased to see that he had taken down what she had termed as a "shrine" to herself, she was immediately dismayed to see that Darien wasn't there. Darien was nowhere. Serena noticed his wallet and phone and keys were sitting on the kitchen counter. She examined his phone. Twenty-seven unread messages. She scrolled through and saw increasingly hysterical messages from herself and Darien's colleagues at work.

_Something is wrong_, she thought.

….

In the cavernous depths of the onyx castle a distraught Kunzite was furiously inputting information into a computer before him. He had known for quite some time that the Soldiers had been using StarScape to locate the Rainbow Crystals and he felt it was high time he used their own technology against them.

….

"Guide me, fire of Mars," murmured Raye. An image began to take shape deep in the heart of the flame, fuzzy at first, but then with increasing clarity. Before long, the image of a red power stick, emblazoned with the symbol of Mars, hung suspended in the fire. Its edges shimmered in gold. Raye slowly got to her feet and stared into the fire at the physical manifestation of her prayers answered. She outstretched her hand to the flame. Her fingertips were warmed by the fire, and the heat intensified as she drew closer. She closed her eyes and pressed forward, plunging her arm into the fire. The heat was staggering, but her sleeves and skin were not singed. She enclosed her fist around the small wand and slowly pulled back. It shone brilliant and new in her palm, as if it had never known a battle. She brought the tip of the wand to her lips and whispered, "I'm ready."

….

"Have you read the papers?" asked Amy as she leaned over the day's New York Times. "Today is the coldest June day on record."

"No kidding," said Mina as she tightened the scarf around her throat.

"Something really bizarre is happening, I can feel it," said Lita. She tightened her grip around her mug of green tea.

Serena, Lita, Mina, and Amy had gathered at the Hungarian Pastry Shop to discuss the disappearance of Raye and Darien. That Raye hadn't been answering anyone's calls surprised no one, but Darien's mysterious disappearance had everyone worried. Serena had gone to the police and filed a missing person's report, but they all knew it wouldn't do any good.

"Excuse me," came a masculine voice from nearby. The girls looked up to see young guy, probably a student at Columbia, which was only a few blocks away, being nudged forward by a bunch of his friends. He was staring at Mina. The girls looked back at him expectantly. "Are you Mina Van Arsdale?" he asked shyly.

Mina dramatically lowered her Armani sunglasses and replied, "I am."

Lita nudged Serena and giggled. The boy grinned and asked, "Would you mind taking a few pictures with us?"

Mina got to her feet and looked back at her friends and, doing the best modest face she could muster, said, "Sorry guys, I'll be right back."

Amy shook her head and said, "Well, I'm going to run to the bathroom while she placates the masses."

When they were alone, Lita put her hand on Serena's shoulder and said, "Are you all right?"

Serena shook her head. "This is all too much," she said.

Lita nodded.

"I don't want this," Serena confessed, tears welling in her eyes. "I-I know my life was going nowhere, but I really don't want this."

Lita sighed and touched Serena's shoulder. "I'm not sure any of us does." Serena looked up at her. "I mean, all I ever wanted in my life was to get married and have a family. Now I don't know what's going to happen."

"Doesn't it make you angry?" Serena said, her voice reaching a dangerous decibel. "To have all this responsibility dumped on you? No one asked us what we wanted! It's not fair!"

"Yeah, it sucks, but that's life, isn't it? I mean, sure, most people aren't asked to save the world every day, but you can't control what life is going to throw at you."

"I just don't think I'm cut out for it."

Lita's eyes were shining. "Oh, but you are, Serena," she said. "You don't realize how—"

"Hey girls," came a voice from someone standing over them. Serena and Lita were shocked to see Raye. She slid into Amy's abandoned seat and smiled at them.

"What are you—where have you—what are you—" Serena stammered.

"Where have you been!" Lita demanded.

"Well," Raye began.

"Raye!" said Amy, returning from the bathroom. She sat down in Mina's chair and stared dumbfounded at Raye. "Where have you been? We've been calling!"

"I know," said Raye. "A lot of things have happened. I—"

"Raye!" Mina screeched, having abandoned her fans and rejoined them at the table. All the seats now occupied, she stood above them and looked around expectantly. Finally, one of the boys whose day she'd made earlier by allowing him to snap a photograph of her pinching his cheek, scrambled over with his own chair allowing her to sit. "Where have you been?"

"Look, you guys. I'm really sorry I went AWOL. I had some things I needed to figure out. But I'm back now and I'm ready for—"

Suddenly, Raye stopped speaking. The earth began to tremble beneath them. It was gentle at first but then began to grow in intensity. Ceramic dishes came crashing to the ground and shattered into tiny pieces. The café patrons began to jump up and scream as the local artists' pieces that adorned the walls came thundering to the ground. The girls rushed outside and saw the streets erupt in panic.

"What's happening?" Serena shrieked.

"Is it an earthquake?" asked Lita.

"This is New York, not L.A.!" shouted Mina.

"Amy, what's going on?" Raye cried.

Amy didn't answer but her jaw dropped and she pointed to something behind them. The others turned to see Kunzite's face etched across the sky. Screams filled the air all around them as passersby stared at the imposing image.

"Hello, ladies," he said, his voice booming like thunder in a valley. The girls looked back at each other in disbelief. "Yes, I know who you really are. Rest assured, your secret is safe with me. That is, it's safe as long as you follow these directions. You are to come, all of you, with the Crystal, to the gates of the Negaverse two days from now at midnight. You are to gather at the place where we last met. You will do this or else your city will suffer the consequences. And you will never see your Prince again." He disappeared in a flash of light and the earth was still again.


	28. Chapter 27: Precipice

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:** Precipice

The air was cool and crisp and the sky dark as Mina clutched her knees to her chest and stared out over the terrace. Lights from nearby apartment buildings and restaurants were just beginning to flicker on. A lit cigarette dangled between her forefinger and middle finger. She hadn't smoked in years, not since her late-teen rebellion. After her dad walked out for good, Mina, between Gap commercials and regional theater, started to hang out with the bad kids. They would meet at the convenience store and hassle the band kids who came in for slushies and Twizzlers. But now, Mina didn't feel rebellious, she felt anxious. In fewer than five hours, they would be entering the Negaverse.

Mina stuffed the cigarette out on the ledge and flicked the butt over the side. She ambled into her bedroom, collapsed onto her bed, and hugged Marley the Bear. "This could be it, you know," she murmured stroking his fur. Age had worn his once plush coat into a matted mass of coarse tufts. "I wish I could take you with me."

She lovingly traced a circle around his remaining glass eye and moved her finger down to his throat where his red ribbon still shone brilliantly as if no time had gone by between her father passing him to Mina's small, eager hands to where she now sat, an adult, ready to face the fight of her life. She gently tugged at the ribbon, which came loose easily in her hand. When she'd untangled it from Marley's tender throat, she brought it to her vanity and inspected herself in the mirror. _Beautiful_, she thought. She had been told as much throughout her life. Fans, co-stars, magazines, lovers, friends, strangers. Everyone thought she was beautiful, but it was only now, as she threaded the red ribbon, the only memory of her father, through her golden locks, that she finally saw it.

….

"Two eggs…one cup brown sugar…one teaspoon vanilla…" Lita furrowed her brow as she whisked her ingredients into a smooth, creamy mixture. Tiny beads of sweat dotted her hairline as she whisked furiously. The thick aroma of sugar and butter hung heavily in her kitchen. She had been baking all day. Twelve racks of cookies cooled on the dining room table, four loaves of banana bread were wrapped in cloth napkins and huddled together in a large basket, and two lemon meringue pies decorated the coffee table in the living room. She found that cooking kept her calm and with only four hours until they were to meet Kunzite at the top of Starlight Tower, Lita needed all the distraction she could get.

A buzz from her intercom snapped Lita out of her distracted reverie. She wiped the flour that had lightly dusted her palms onto her apron and crossed the apartment to the intercom.

"Yes?" she spoke into the speaker.

"Lita? It's Andrew. Can I come up?"

Lita paused. She had been moody and sullen lately and Andrew had borne the brunt of it. Rather than respond, she pushed the button that unlocked the door, counted to five, and released. He would be up any minute. She unbolted her door and dashed into the bathroom to give herself a quick once-over. Her face was smudged with white dust. She stuck her tongue out at her reflection and tied her hair up in a high ponytail and flushed her face with water. Patting her skin dry, she managed a smile and exited the bathroom. Andrew was just coming through the door. He smiled cautiously. It must have been raining outside because his sandy blond hair was shining as droplets trickled down and sailed to the floor before bursting into tiny fireworks on the marble floor of the hallway.

Lita's lower lip began to quiver as she watched him watching her. She began to approach him slowly, wringing her hands together anxiously as she moved. He didn't say anything but outstretched his arms and waited. She fit perfectly within his grasp and rested her head on his sturdy shoulder.

"I missed you, babe," he whispered.

"I'll miss you too," she replied, hugging him tightly.

….

Amy typed furiously away at her laptop. There were only three hours to go and she was petrified she wouldn't finish in time. She'd spent the morning scrubbing her apartment from top to bottom, burning her diaries, and closing out her credit card accounts. But she'd saved the most important task for last.

"Personal property, real property, intellectual property, shares of CelesTech, dividends…"

Had she remembered everything? Had she thought of every contingency?

"Annuities, life insurance, retirement benefits…"

She saved her document and scrolled to the top. _I'll read it over one last time_, she thought. _Hopefully I got everything._ She pushed her reading glasses up the bridge of her nose and began to read: _Last will and testament of Amy Lynn Anderson…_

….

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine was largely empty save for a few tourists who wended their way in and out of the sacred chapels that surrounded the nave. Raye had been kneeling before the altar of Saint Savior for so long, her knees were bruised and sore. _Two hours to go_, she thought. _Mind over matter. A sound mind is half the battle._ Her hands were clasped together so tightly her knuckles were solid white. Her raven hair splayed out onto the floor and surrounded her like a macabre veil. _Please, God, give me the strength to do what needs to be done! _

….

The cool porcelain soothed Serena's flushed cheek, which was hot and grimy and coated with a thin film of sweat. She felt utterly wretched and had spent the better part of the day making intimate acquaintance with her toilet. She knew she didn't have the flu, but was wracked with nervous anticipation. She was never much for travel and in less than an hour she'd be making a trip that, as far as she knew, no one in human history had made.

Luna tried to reassure Serena that she was perfectly capable of facing Beryl in battle. "You can do this," she said, placing a paw on Serena's knee. "It's in your blood."

"Luna," said Serena impatiently. "My mom writes kids' books and my dad's in pharmaceuticals. I think I'm a little out of my league here."

"I don't mean your Earthly family, Serena. I mean the generations of queens from which you descend."

Serena hung her head miserably. "I don't remember much of that. Most of my memories from that time have to do with…" Her eyes began to well and she stood up and crossed her small apartment to stare out the window.

"He'll be all right, Serena," Luna tried to reassure her.

"What are you basing that on, Luna? If it's up to me to save him, he's as good as dead!"

"Don't say that!"

"But it's true! I'm not a hero. I can barely get my own life together!" The tears were freely falling now. "Look at me!" she exclaimed. "A year ago I was happy. I was just plugging along living my life. Then you show up and I've got monsters after me and I'm told it's my job to save to planet from these evil forces I never heard of! And now I've got to go to the freaking Negaverse to fight some witch and she'll probably kill me, which won't really matter because she's going to take over the whole planet anyway!"

Luna didn't speak for a few minutes. Finally: "Serena. First of all, you weren't happy a year ago. I watched you for a long time before I ever spoke to you and I know you weren't happy. There was a constant sadness clouding your eyes. You were desperate for some meaning in your life. You may not see it, but you come alive when you're Sailor Moon. When you throw your tiara and it rips through the flesh of a demon that means to do harm to your friends or to innocent strangers, you're consumed with a passion you never knew from anything you ever did before. It may not be clear to you now, but you know it. You know it deep in your soul. You were meant to do this. You were meant to fight and you were meant to win."

Serena looked away. She wished she shared Luna's confidence.

….

The five huddled together just outside the doorway on the rooftop deck of the Starlight Tower. A sense of foreboding hung stagnant in the air. It was a few minutes before midnight.

"So," Lita began, trying to make small talk. "How did you all spend your last day on Earth?"

"Don't be morbid, Lita," said Mina. "We're all coming back in one piece."

"I've been doing a lot of mental preparation," said Raye. "They have home field advantage. We need to be ready for anything."

"Did you all prepare your wills?" asked Amy innocently. She was met with blank stares.

"And you call me morbid," Lita muttered.

"It isn't morbid," Amy insisted. "It's practical."

Their nervous banter came to a quick conclusion when a crash of thunder shattered the air and Kunzite appeared just above them. His electric white hair danced around his head as if moved by a breeze felt by no one but him.

"Good evening, ladies," he snarled. "Wise of you to show up."

The girls said nothing, but their fear was palpable. Kunzite ripped a gaping hole into the sky and beckoned them to follow. Nobody moved.

"Come on," Raye whispered to Serena. "Get going."

Serena gulped and took a step forward. In an instant, she was levitating a few feet off the ground. Slowly, the girls rose behind her and they were carried toward the hole which buzzed with electricity. One by one, they each disappeared into the darkness. This was it. Either Beryl was going down, or they were.


	29. Chapter 28: Sacrifice

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:** Sacrifice

The Queen tapped her white, gnarled finger impatiently against the steely arm of her onyx throne. "Now who will greet our guests this fine day here in the Negaverse?"

The crowd before her slowly began to part as five fairy demons made their way to the front. "We will, Your Majesty," said Vera, the leader of the small gang of Negaverse drones that liked to call themselves the Doom and Gloom Girls. Vera was the architect. She was known for her carefully orchestrated attacks and her ability to plan for every possible contingency. Ciara was the mind-reader. She was able to tap into her victim's psyche and root out his most deeply-repressed fears. Renia, Portia, and Shyla were the brute force of the group. Although they all possessed similar biological makeup and resembled slight fairies, these three were capable of wreaking massive destruction.

"You're sure you're up to it?" said the Queen skeptically.

"We'll take care of them."

"Sailor Moon must be left alive. She has the Crystal. Kill the others if you have to, just make sure that Sailor Moon comes to me relatively unharmed," said the Queen. And with a flick of her wrist, the Girls were dismissed and began to make a plan.

"We need to try to separate them," said Vera. "They're too powerful when they're together."

"Let's use false scenarios to get their guards down," suggested Ciara. "I can create truly state-of-the-art hallucinations that will make them believe their surroundings are real."

"Good idea. We should take out Jupiter first," Vera continued. "She's the strongest and her powers are the greatest. Once we take her out, not only will we have diminished their powers, but their morale will fall as well."

….

"What is with this snow?" Serena screeched through ice-blue lips. When the Soldiers emerged through the other side of the wormhole, they found themselves in the middle of a frozen tundra. They appeared to be situated between two ice-covered mountain ranges. Visibility was low as the snow churned up all around them.

"Look!" shouted Mina. "There!" They all turned toward where Mina gestured and looming in the distance was a smoldering black castle.

"That's probably where we should be headed," Amy said. They formed a single file line and trudged through the snow, Amy leading the way and Lita bringing up the rear.

But soon, the snow was whirling up so fast it was practically blinding.

Lita looked up and couldn't see the others anymore. "Guys?" she called. Suddenly, she was filled with dread. Something wasn't right. Then – just as quickly as it had started – the snowstorm calmed. She began to feel almost warm. She looked all around her but didn't see the others. And then the ground beneath her stopped crunching and her feet thudded against a hard surface. She looked at the floor and recognized it as her own clean white bathroom tile. Her knees weakened and she crumpled to the floor. When she looked up, she saw eyes that she had thought she'd never see again.

"You did this on purpose," he snarled.

"I didn't! I swear!" Lita found herself saying.

"My dad tried to warn me about this. Girls are always doing this to trap rich guys."

Lita couldn't believe her ears. She couldn't believe this was the same man who had always spoken so gently to her, who had always handled her so delicately.

"How can you say that?" she stammered, her eyes welling up with tears. "It just happened. You know I love you."

"How do I even know it's mine?"

Lita felt as though she'd been kicked in the stomach. He turned to go and she found herself pleading with him: "Freddy, please! Please don't leave me like this, I need you!"

"It's your problem," he replied coldly. "You deal with it."

She felt as though her heart had been ripped from her body. Suddenly, the cold came back and she found herself back in her sailor suit and on her knees in the bitter snow. _What was that?_ she thought. She could barely breathe. Her chest felt like it was being pulled apart. She stood up and immediately felt her head begin to spin. She dropped her head between her knees and tried to breath deeply. As she regained her balance, the cold began to melt away again. _Oh no, please_, she begged internally. _Not again!_

And she was in the bathroom again, staring at the tiled floor. Only this time, instead of white, all she saw was deep red. Blood ran down her thighs coating the once-white tile and Lita was brought back to the day when the life inside her died and a part of her died with it. All the heartbreak and misery came back as fresh as it was that day and Lita wept until she was empty inside. When the cold came back, she didn't feel it. She was numb. But she saw that she was once again in her sailor suit and on her knees in the snow.

"Well, hello, Sailor Jupiter!" came a low, throttled voice. Lita lifted her head and found herself face to face with five winged monsters.

The fire returned to her eyes as her sadness became resounding rage. She broke out into a run and lunged toward all five of them. Vines, each no less than three inches thick, shot forward engulfing Lita and hoisting her high into the air. She was so high up she could see the others at last.

"Jupiter!" Serena screamed. The other four were still together and ran toward where Lita was held captive, suspended more than one hundred feet in the air.

Two of the Girls were holding the vines in place around Lita's body.

"We'll get you down!" Serena called, panicked.

Lita knew she was out of Serena's tiara's range and she was quickly running out of time. _I'm not afraid to die_, she thought, _but I'm going to take as many of these bitches with me as I can!_ Summoning more strength than she thought herself capable of, Lita tore her arms through the vines. Aghast, the two Girls who had been holding Lita in place tried to fly away, but Lita, although she was still held in place by vines wrapped around her waist, was too quick and she slung one arm around the neck of each girl and held them as close to her body as she could.

"Jupiter," she began, "thunder…CRASH!" When her lightning descended from the skies, Lita knew that if she didn't free her arms and cast it outward, it would charge directly into her body and incinerate her. She held onto the Girls even tighter. She felt warm, and then nothing.

….

"Oh God," said Serena as she sank to her knees. Tears streamed down her face as she gaped at Lita's broken body that lay draped over the jagged rocks. Blood trickled from a gash in her head and sent dark streaks down the side of the rock. Large patches of charred skin covered her body. While Serena wept, the others were stunned silent. No one spoke, no one moved for several minutes.

"She sacrificed herself," Mina murmured.

"She took out two of them," said Raye, in quiet awe.

"Let's just give them the Crystal," Serena begged, turning to Amy. "It isn't worth it!"

Amy shook her head sadly. "We've come too far, Sailor Moon. If we give up now, Jupiter died for no reason."

"Let's make sure we stick together. We can't let them get any more of us," said Mina, her voice breaking.

"Agreed," said Amy. "Let's keep going." She extended her hand to Serena who reluctantly accepted it. Amy pulled Serena up off the ground and the group trudged on in silence through the snow.

After a few minutes, it was Mina who again broke the silence. "Did you see how they sort of had Lita in a trance before they attacked?"

"Yeah, she looked almost paralyzed," added Raye.

Serena looked despondent and didn't reply. Amy was busily punching the buttons on her Blackberry. "You know," she spoke up after a moment, "I've been analyzing the data that's flowing through the airwaves and just after one of those creepy fairy things whispered to her, there was a spike in this reading here." The girls gathered around and Amy pointed to a graph displayed on the small screen.

"What are we looking at?" Raye asked.

"Well, this program is designed to read everything that's traveling through the airwaves. I'm talking all kinds of information. Electronic and…otherwise," Amy explained.

"Otherwise?" Mina prodded.

"Well, as an afterthought, I added an external barometer right here on the bottom of the phone to check for environmental data as well – you know, just in case." The girls didn't respond, but waited for Amy to elaborate. "Well, right before Lita went numb, there was a sudden burst of – my computer is telling me that it's hydroxyl-dimethyltryptamine."

"Amy," said Serena impatiently, "obviously none of us knows what that is."

Mina piped up, "Are you talking about 'shrooms?"

The girls stared at her.

"Actually, yes," said Amy, surprised, "it's the chemical compound psilocybin, which is found in those hallucinogenic mushrooms."

"How the hell did you know that?" Serena asked Mina, incredulously.

"Oh, I was at this party once, and that guy Grant Masterson, you know, the one from that movie that came out last year? The one that was based off that book? And he and his friends were all like, 'Hey, Mina V.! Come try this stuff, it'll make you—"

"Can we please focus here?" Raye snapped.

"Sorry," said Mina, looking at the ground.

"Anyway," said Amy, "this stuff filled the air and Lita probably breathed it in."

"You think she was hallucinating before they—" Serena trailed off.

"I think that one of those fairy things got her to ingest the psilocybin right before they attacked."

Suddenly, they were startled by a blurry figure up ahead.

"What's that?" asked Serena, trembling.

"I'm not sure," said Amy. "Let me go check it out. You guys stay here."

"Amy!" Mina exclaimed. "Haven't you ever seen a horror movie? Don't leave the group!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Mina, this isn't a movie—"

"Feels like one," Serena muttered.

Amy turned to face the others. "Listen, you guys. We all know I'm not the powerhouse here."

Serena kicked at the snow. "Amy, what are you talking about?"

Amy's eyes were shining and she spoke with a sudden rush. "With Jupiter gone, we're seriously weakened. And when it comes to powers, Mars and Venus, you guys dwarf me. The important thing is that you two make it through to protect Serena and the Crystal. I'm going to check this out myself and report back. Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Amy sounded more confident than she felt, but she managed a stiff smile and turned away. She moved briskly toward the shadowy figure leaving her three friends behind her, mouths agape. Before long, the snow kicked up again and when Amy glanced over her shoulder, they were gone. Suddenly, her Blackberry started chirping wildly.

"Just as I thought," Amy murmured. The graph on the screen registered a sharp spike in hydroxyl-dimethyltryptamine. Her mind churned as she tried to think of a way to avoid ingesting the substance. Three of the demon fairies appeared just off the horizon and appeared to lie in wait. Her heart started to race as she raised her arms up over her head. _Maybe if I can dilute the air_, she thought. She slowly lifted her chin and stared at the bright blue ball of fog turning and rolling in the air suspended between her palms.

"Mercury bubble!" she screamed bringing her outstretched arms in front her of her. The ball grew larger before her. She held off until the bubble was almost as wide as she was tall.

"Blast!" It burst into thousands of smaller bubbles that dissipated through the atmosphere around her glistening like sparkling stars traversing a night's sky. Her Blackberry calmed and the readings returned to normal.

An eerie calm settled over the terrain and lasted a full ten seconds before three fairy demons appeared and surrounded Amy in triangle formation.

"Cute trick," muttered Vera.

Amy didn't respond and the circle around her got smaller. Suddenly, her Blackberry began to sound. Amy looked into the face of the fairy closest to her right side, closest to the device. Like all of them, she was tall and slender with pixie wings and elegant facial features that turned ugly during an attack – but one detail about her differed from the others. A blue stone in the center of her forehead. Amy slowly glanced down at the screen in her hand. _It's coming from her!_

They were closing in.

Quick as lightning, Amy broke out into a run toward the demon called Ciara. It seemed to Amy as if it were all happening in slow motion. She reached out toward Ciara's face and plucked the jewel from her face and hurled it into the sky.

It was the last thing she did.

….

"God, this place sucks," Serena complained as the three made their way through two-foot snow drifts. Raye rolled her eyes and bit her lip in order to keep silent.

"Well, the good news is that the castle is getting bigger so we must be getting closer," said Mina.

"It's about time. It's probably warm in there right?"

"God, Serena!" Raye couldn't help herself. "Can you please focus on what we're here for?"

"I am focused, Raye! Excuse me for trying to keep my spirits—ow!" Mina and Raye turned around to find Serena on her face in the snow.

"Great," Raye muttered. "Our fearless leader can't walk a few yards without tripping over her own feet."

"I didn't trip over my feet, jerk, there was a rock or some—" Serena stopped.

"What? What is it?" Raye snapped.

Serena didn't answer but held up Amy's crushed Blackberry for the others to see. Raye shook her head slowly. Mina covered her mouth.

"Serena, come on, get up. We have to move on," said Raye, a sudden gentleness in her voice.

"Damn it, Raye, can't I have just one God damn second to think about her!"

Raye was taken aback.

"Just give her a minute," said Mina softly, touching Raye's elbow. Raye sighed and turned away. Serena sat in the snow and held Amy's shattered Blackberry in her hands. She didn't notice the ground turn blood red beneath her. But Mina did.

"Serena, watch out!" she screamed, leaping into action. Mina sailed through the air and shoved Serena hard. Just as Serena was pushed out of the circle, a thick trunk of black vines exploded through the ground and grasped Mina around her waist. The ground split open and swallowed her whole as she screamed in terror.

"Sailor Venus, is it?" growled a fiery Renia. She put her face so close to Mina's that Mina could feel the bitter warmth of her sour breath on her face. "Welcome to the Negaverse!"

Mina narrowed her eyes and brought her index finger to her forehead.

"Venus crescent beam!" A double crescent moon appeared above Mina's eyes and she jammed her forefinger into Renia's face. "SMASH!"

The force of the beam obliterated Renia sending splintered pieces of her burning flesh into the earthen walls surrounding them. But the pieces were indistinguishable from Mina's.

….

Raye watched in horror as Mina's once beautiful face shattered after her crescent beam destroyed both herself and a demon fairy. As Serena looked about to burst into tears yet again, Raye grabbed her wrist and started to run. She ran and ran dragging Serena behind her.

"Raye! Stop! Stop!" exclaimed Serena, gasping and choking. "I can't—I can't run anymore!"

Raye stopped running and released Serena's wrist. Serena dropped her head between her knees and gasped for air.

"Serena," said Raye softly, looking off toward the castle, which was now within screaming distance. "I think you're supposed to face her alone."

Serena snapped to attention. "Raye, that isn't funny. Are you bailing on me?"

Raye turned and looked straight into Serena's eyes. "I know what I have to do. I've known it all along."

"Raye, what—what are you saying?" Serena's voice was quaking. Raye moved closer and took Serena's hands in hers.

"You can do this, Serena," said Raye. "I know you can. And I know you will."

Serena opened her mouth to speak, but Vera and Ciara, the only two left, appeared just off in the distance.

"Serena, don't move, I mean it!" said Raye sharply. Serena obeyed as Raye dashed off, heels crunching in the snow. When Raye got within thirty feet of where the demons hovered, the ground began to tremble beneath her. Soon, the ground rose up on either side of her and she found herself surrounded by mountains as tall as the Chrysler building. Vera and Ciara flew in circles directly above Raye's head jeering and taunting her and as each moment passed, the mountains moved in closer, threatening to crush her. As she struggled to maintain her footing, she clasped her hands together in front of her and closed her eyes. And in a low and even tone:

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me."

The craggy cliffs above her fused together sealing her in. Her hair rose away from her body as if buoyed by an electric static. She snapped her eyes open and brought her index fingers to attention.

"Mars fire ignite!" A molten ball of flame exploded from Raye's fingertips and charged forward at a dizzying speed. Before Vera and Ciara had a chance to launch a counterattack, they were engulfed in fire. Their screams of agony echoed off the chasm walls, which moved ever closer. Raye fell to her knees coughing as the smoke from her own fire invaded her lungs. She wondered whether it would hurt more to die from asphyxiation or to have every bone in her body crushed beneath the weight of the rocks and dirt that were now falling all around her. She didn't have to wonder long.

….

Serena was alone. She stood at the base of the castle and stared upward. It did not seem to have any entryways leading in. She wondered how she would get inside. Amy would have thought of some ingenious way to sneak in using math and physics somehow. Lita would have ripped a hole right through the façade. But Serena was alone now. She had no tears left inside her as she took the first step toward the castle. Serena wasn't walking long when an enormous red bubble rose up from the ground beneath her, trapping her inside. She cried out as it floated slowly, but steadily up the side of the castle. Just then, a voice permeated the bubble and spoke to her:

"Sailor Moon." It was a hoarse and raspy whisper; a voice Serena did not recognize.

"B-Beryl?" Serena asked hesitantly.

"I am not Beryl," the voice replied. "I am Metalia…a servant of the Queen."

"What do you want?" Serena whimpered, afraid to antagonize the thing that was currently holding her several stories in the air.

"I can help you," said Metalia.

"Help me how?" Serena was suddenly interested, but wary.

"Darien…" Metalia breathed. "I know how to lift the spell."

Serena's eyes lit up: "How? How do I do it?"

"You must have him…willingly touch…your Star Locket." Her labored breathing gave Serena the creeps.

Her hand went immediately to her breast where her locket was affixed to her sailor bow. "How do you know about my Star Locket?"

"There is not…much time, Sailor Moon. You will be…at the entrance soon."

"But wait – why would you help me?" Serena asked, channeling Raye's cynicism.

"There isn't time…You have nothing…to lose." The voice disappeared and moments later, the bubble burst and Serena found herself on an icy black floor staring up at Queen Beryl with Prince Darien standing obediently at her side.


	30. Chapter 29: Serenity

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:** Serenity

"Welcome to my Negaverse, Sailor Moon," Beryl greeted with a sly, twisted smile playing at her lips. Serena didn't respond – the sight of Darien made her heart drop into her stomach. Gone was the playful sparkle in his eyes; it was replaced by a cold, dead stare. He looked like her Darien, but all the life was gone from him. Seeing her love replaced by this hollow shell made Serena's stomach wrench. "Darien," Beryl continued, her voice dripping in saccharine sweetness, "get me that Crystal and destroy Sailor Moon once and for all."

"As you wish, my Queen," Darien droned. He drew his sword and advanced on Serena. Serena's breath quickened as she hastened to think fast. _How do I hold him off without hurting him? _Her mind drifted back to their training weekend in the Catskills. _Concentrate! _she willed herself and in a flash her tiara was off her forehead and spinning wildly in place about three feet in front of her just below Darien's towering figure. His blade was poised directly above her head. One swift blow and it would all be over. But Darien remained poised without following through. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to breathe. It was as if her tiara were forcing him back and he was fighting it with every ounce of strength he possessed. Finally, exhausted, Darien fell to the floor. Serena was utterly spent and her tiara came clattering to the floor.

Beryl looked on, but didn't intervene. She knew Darien would not give up. Her spell was embedded too far into the depths of his subconscious.

Darien, gasping for air, pulled himself to his feet. "Goodbye, Sailor Moon," he growled, lifting his sword above his head again. Serena had no back up plan and was sure she didn't have the energy to hold him off with her tiara for much longer. She brought her hand to her chest and removed her locket. It slipped off easily and Serena was surprised to see that her sailor suit had not morphed back into her regular street clothes.

"Darien," she whispered, the fear rising in her voice. "I know that no matter what she's done to you, you're not evil. She might have your mind, but you promised that your heart would always belong to me." She lifted the locket and flipped it open. The haunting melody began to play and Serena could see the blackness slowly fade from Darien's eyes.

"You're the enemy," he stammered, sounding less sure of himself than he had earlier.

"I'm not, Darien. Look…Look at this locket." Suddenly, as the music filled the room, Serena was flooded with memories of the Moon—memories that had been hidden even after the revelation at the Starlight Tower. "Do you remember the day you gave it to me?" she said. "Do you remember the boat ride on the Eastern Sea? What about the rose garden outside the Hadean Palace?" Darien's arms wavered. "Do you remember the Silver Masquerade Ball and dancing out on the terrace?" Serena's pitch took on a panicked note of desperation as memories crowded her consciousness faster than she could articulate them. "The cabin in the Lyra Mountains! And the ring! Darien, you have to remember the ring! You gave it to me just before the uprising. You had it engraved, remember? On Earth-"

"As it is in Heaven," Darien murmured.

"Darien!"

"I—I—"

"Oh, Darien! All you have to do is touch it!" She held out the locket and Darien dropped his sword to the ground. He extended his hand slowly and grazed the locket with his fingertips. Immediately, the light filled his body with a force so strong it lifted him off the ground. As beams of light shot through him, the curse was lifted. Darien, his energy nearly gone, collapsed into Serena's arms.

"Thank you," he breathed. "I'm free."

Serena's heart welled as she held her prince. It had been far too long.

The rage on Beryl's face was evident. She was shaking so badly, she couldn't utter a word, but conjured a thick black blade of stone and heaved it at the royal pair. With the last of his strength, Darien reached into his cape and hurled an enchanted rose in Beryl's direction. It tore through the stone like a diamond through glass and pierced Beryl in the heart. Clutching her chest and gasping for air, Beryl sunk into the floor, which had become like plasma.

"No!" she growled. "No! I'll get you, Sailor Moon! The both of you! I'll get you if it's the last thing I ever do!"

Beryl disappeared beneath the floor. Serena turned to Darien who hung limp in her arms.

"Darien? Darien, wake up!"

He stirred and his eyes fluttered open. "I'll—I'll find a way back to you. I promise." Serena nodded and clutched his hand to her heart.

"I love you," she whispered. "And I always will."

She held him close until he drew his last breath.

….

_It worked. Now that the Prince is taken from her, her rage is uncontrollable. There is no way she can lose. Now she is ready to wield my power._

….

"I will not be defeated again! I will destroy Sailor Moon and her entire world! Tell me how I can win this!" Beryl howled. Her icy form was shaking with rage as she appeared on her knees before Metalia.

"I will give you my power, Beryl, but use it wisely. Another defeat and I will find another servant!"

Beryl said nothing but screamed in agony as Metalia infused with her body. Beryl grew large – so large that she broke out of her castle and stepped onto the snowy expanse that surrounded. The pain subsided and Beryl cackled as she felt the power coursing through her veins. _I'm indestructible_, she thought.

….

"You better enjoy that laugh, Beryl," Serena said bitterly as she walked down the snowy valley flanked by two massive mountains. Images of her friends' lifeless bodies flashed before her eyes. "It's the last one you'll ever have." She felt the weight of Darien's breathless form in her arms, his face soaked with her own tears. "You'll never rule the universe as long as I live."

"We'd better get this over with then," Beryl said, her voice dripping with hatred.

"Let's do it," Serena agreed.

"You haven't any idea who you're dealing with!" Beryl screamed. "Goodbye, Sailor Moon!" She raised her arms above her head and channeled the power Metalia had imputed to her. A great black bolt of energy sizzled between her hands and Beryl hurled it toward Serena.

The bolt seemed to strike Serena and a great cloud of dust filled the air around the spot where she had been standing. When it cleared, Serena was nowhere to be found. Beryl's eyes darted back and forth across the ground searching for the body. When she didn't find it, she assumed her power had obliterated the small girl.

But then a voice echoed off the mountains:

"I will defeat you, Beryl, in the name of the Moon!"

Perched at the precipice was Serena. Her sailor suit had dissolved and in its place was a white gossamer gown. Her tiara was gone and a single crescent moon adorned her forehead. For the first time since Luna had entered her life and turned her world upside down, Serena did not fight her destiny. She was finally at peace. Her mind was clear but for one object: to rid the universe of Beryl permanently.

"You?" Beryl laughed. "The pathetic little princess? You're no Serenity, child, and you cannot defeat me!"

Serena closed her eyes and gripped the Crescent Moon Wand tightly with both hands. "I am ready now. And I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

"You should be!" Beryl screamed and raised her arms to attack again.

As the energy bolt grew larger before Serena's eyes as it approached, she stared her enemy in the face and said: "Cosmic Moon Power!" Great bursts of pink light shot of out of the Crystal and formed a protective bubble around Serena. Beryl continued to attack charging more black energy into the shield, but it held fast. Beryl's power was unable to penetrate the shield, but Serena remained on the defensive. She reached into the depths of her soul to summon every last ounce of energy she possessed but it was no use. She could protect herself, but she couldn't launch an affirmative strike. _It's going to come down to outlasting her_, Serena thought. _I've just got to hang on longer than she does. I can't let her win this one! _She willed herself to remain strong, but Beryl showed no signs of weakening. After what seemed like hours, Serena's body began to tremble beneath the weight of the dome. _No!_ she thought. _I can't give up!_ Serena's eyes widened in terror as her protective shield began to shrink all around her. Beryl cackled evilly and cast even more dark energy into the shield. Serena's breath quickened as she realized she was going to lose this battle. _I'm sorry_, she thought, closing her eyes and thinking of all the lives lost. _I'm so sorry!_

Her eyes snapped open as she felt someone place a hand directly over hers. She looked to her left and saw Lita smiling down at her. Then, Serena looked to her right to see Raye, who had placed her hand over Serena's other hand. Two more hands appeared and tears spilled down Serena's face as she gazed into the ghostly faces of the people she thought she'd never see again. Although she could feel the warmth of their hands on hers, their bodies were translucent figures and there were no traces of any of the injuries they'd received in battle. The fire returned to Serena's eyes and she stared forward at Beryl who didn't seem to see the return of the fallen soldiers.

"Mercury Power!"

"Mars Power!"

"Jupiter Power!"

"Venus Power!"

"Cosmic Moon Power!"

"Unite!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

The Crystal gleamed brighter than any of them had ever seen it as each soldier cast her power forward. Beams of light exploded out of the Crystal and Beryl's energy was instantly vaporized. She screamed in pain as the bubble that surrounded the soldiers lifted off the ground and charged toward Beryl. Beryl's shrieks reverberated throughout the chasm as the bubble enveloped her and her body crumbled to dust.

Beryl vanquished, Serena loosened her grip on the wand and fell the ground, her eyes falling to a close. Her friends had disappeared. The last of her energy spent, the Princess Serenity lay sprawled on the craggy, snowy cliff as tiny snowflakes dusted her lifeless body.

The Silver Crystal had dislodged itself from the Crescent Moon Wand, which had fallen to the ground and lay next to the departed princess. Still filled with the power of all the Sailor Soldiers, the Crystal burned bright as heavenly body, barely dimmed by the massive expulsion of energy it had just emitted to dispatch Beryl. It still had one task left.


	31. Chapter 30: Damage

**CHAPTER THIRTY:** Damage

Hidden in the shadows beneath the grandeur of the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel, two somber cats sat huddled together on the platform of an abandoned subway station. They faced a computer screen partly obscured by old wooden crates and newspapers dragged there to resemble a makeshift lean-to.

"We should have trained longer, more intensely," Luna said miserably.

"Don't do this, Luna," said Artemis. "They were soldiers and they died in battle. It happens every day."

"It's different."

"How so?"

"Most soldiers volunteer. These girls never asked to fight. And no one will ever know their sacrifice."

"Life doesn't ask us what we want, Luna. Sacrifices must be made to ensure the future. Serenity did it. Her daughter did it. They fulfilled their responsibilities."

"How can you be so callous, Artemis?" Luna snapped. "You were with Mina for years before you revealed to her who she was. Didn't you have any regrets? Didn't you love her at all?"

Artemis paused. "Of course I did, Luna," he said softly. "But I always knew this was a possibility. You knew this too."

"I guess I just didn't believe it. I didn't want to."

Artemis sighed. "Let's check in with Central Control and get out of this rat-infested sewer pipe."

"Some cat you are," Luna muttered.

Artemis pressed his front paw onto a keypad and sat back as the screen hummed to life. There was a crackling sound, some buzzing, and then the blurry form of a tall, raven-haired woman with a sun-kissed complexion appeared before them.

"Hello, guardians," came the low, static-filled voice. "Your mission was a complete success. You are to be congratulated."

"Not a _complete_ success," Artemis argued. "They were killed, all of them."

"But not in vain," the voice gently spoke on the other end. "You don't know it yet, but the world will be magnificent and free of evil. The great cities of the world will be encased in crystal and we will know peace and prosperity that will rival that of the Silver Millennium. And it is all thanks to the great sacrifices made by the Royals."

Artemis and Luna glanced at each other and then quickly back to the screen.

"You mean," Artemis began, "you _knew_ they were Princesses of the Silver Millennium?"

"Of course. I knew everything."

Luna and Artemis were awestruck as visions of the slain Soldiers forced their way into their conscious minds. The sound of Serena's pleading, her begging Luna to make it all untrue, to let her go back to being a normal teenage girl flooded Luna's mind.

"I don't understand," Luna seethed. "If you knew all this time that Serena was the Moon Princess, why didn't you just tell us? I could have explained it all to her from the beginning! Instead of turning her life upside down for months, I could have just told her the truth right away and saved her so much pain and heartache!"

"Yeah!" agreed Artemis. "Why did you send us on this false mission looking for the Moon Princess when you could have just told us? We could have gotten the Crystal and sent the Soldiers into the Negaverse right away without the hours of battles and injuries and the torture of telling them the world's fate was on their shoulders!"

There was a long silence. It continued for so long that at first Luna and Artemis began to think the voice on the other end had cut them off. Finally, she spoke up softly:

"She had to become the champion."

Luna cocked her head to one side. "Champion? What does that mean?"

"The Princess Serenity of the twenty-first century could never have defeated Beryl without first channeling the champion within; you call her Sailor Moon. She has been imbued with the Light since birth, as she was during the Silver Millennium. But back then, she was never taught to use it. She was a princess, not a fighter. Her inability to wield the power was one of the reasons Beryl was able to destroy the civilizations of the Silver Millennium. She had to learn and the Princesses of the Planets had to _re_-learn how to harness their powers before they could battle Beryl. They had to come to it gradually. If I had merely told you who they were and how to get the Crystal, they would have marched into battle completely unprepared and Beryl would have overpowered them and taken the Crystal. That would have spelled devastation and the end of our universe as we know it."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Artemis piped up.

Luna added: "How can you possibly know we wouldn't end up with the same outcome?"

The voice sighed and, with a note of sadness, replied: "Because it's happened before."

Luna and Artemis gasped, thunderstruck. "What do you mean?" Luna ventured, timidly.

"All this has happened before," the voice repeated, "but it ended in tragedy. Serena was found and told that she was the Moon Princess. She was told who the carried the Rainbow Crystals. She gathered them and as soon as she'd touched them all, they became the Silver Crystal, much as they did here. She was told she needed to use it against Beryl. But she was destroyed by Beryl's henchman. She never even looked upon Beryl's face. She was utterly outmatched. Beryl had the Crystal in her possession and turned our world upside down. I had no choice. I had to use the Time Key and go back. I cannot begin to tell you what it means to disrupt the flow of time, but suffice it to say, I took a grave risk in doing so. But with Beryl ruling our universe and the Moon Princess dead, there were no other options. And so you see, Serena had to learn her past gradually so that she could fully appreciate her role in the universe. The other princesses were awakened as a sort of insurance policy. A good idea, it turns out, since Serena would surely have failed without them. But she had to become the champion."

Artemis and Luna glanced at each other, overwhelmed by the force of the information that they had just received. Then Artemis asked what Luna had long wanted to, but never dared ask: "Who _are_ you?"

After a moment of silence, the voice responded: "I am Sailor Pluto. I am the watcher and the guardian of the Gates of Time."

"I can't believe we'll never see our girls again," Luna moaned.

"Fear not, little Luna," said Pluto, her face slowly revealing a smile twisted slightly upward as if concealing something known only to her. "For all that were…" she added with a wink, "shall be again!"


	32. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

The resurrection was slow and painful. It was as if they had all awoken from a night of fitful sleep, plagued by dark and terrifying nightmares. Memories of the great battle trickled back into their waking realities slowly like the crash of a wave leaving fresh life in the sand with each forward reach before retreating again into the vast sea of clouded consciousness. But remembering death was traumatic and each processed her awakening in a different way.

Darien had taken it the hardest. He was recovering in Mount Sinai Hospital. Serena visited him there every day.

"How is he today?" Serena asked Marcy, the plump nurse receptionist, as she arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of red roses and a teddy bear.

"The same," said Marcy. "He's still in a semi-conscious coma. He's scheduled to have a psych evaluation later today."

"Psych?" Serena asked, surprised. "What for?"

"He's been muttering a lot of gibberish in his sleep about the world coming to an end and some witch trying to lay waste to the whole planet."

Serena forced a laugh. "How crazy."

"Yeah, but don't worry. It ends well with a little princess saving the world!"

_Who you calling little, lady?_ "Wow, that's a good one!" said Serena. She nodded to Marcy and proceeded up to the seventh floor. She rapped lightly on Darien's door and just as she predicted, there was no answer. She pushed her way in and saw him lying there, pale and weak, in a deep and undisturbed slumber.

"Good morning, love," Serena said cheerily. She set the bouquet and bear on the nightstand next to him and pulled a chair close to the bed. She gripped his hand in hers and said, "Wake up, Darien. Please, wake up. It's over now. We can build our life together now."

He didn't respond. Serena sighed and stroked his hair. "I went to your apartment today to clean up and get it all ready for when you come home. You know I found a jar of pickles that expired two years ago in the back of your fridge? That's really disgusting, Darien. Oh, and I was thinking of going to this stylist that Mina recommended. Supposedly he's the stylist to the stars. I was thinking of doing something drastic, you know? Like chop off all my hair and do a cute bob. Or maybe even one of those pixie haircuts. Like a new start, you know? Start over. From scratch. What do you think?"

"No way, Meatball Head."

Serena snapped her head up to see Darien looking down at her, smiling.

"I like your hair just the way it is." He reached out and laced his fingers through hers and brought them to his lips. "How's it going?"

Serena laughed and cried at the same time as he kissed each finger on her left hand. When he got to her ring finger he paused and said, "Now this can't be right…"

"Darien, stop it," said Serena, laughing, and she pulled her hand back.

"No, seriously," he said. "What do you think?"

"I think that was supposed to be some kind of proposal, but that can't be right. I don't see a disgustingly large diamond anywhere."

"Hey, cut me some slack. I just came back from the dead. Step one, wiggle toes. Step two, hit Harry Winston."

"Ooh, la la," said Serena, grinning. _Finally_, she thought.

….

Luna and Artemis were overjoyed to have their girls back and to reassure them that their trauma was not in vain, they revealed the story of the future that could have been. But inevitably, learning that there was some cryptic gatekeeper manipulating all their lives did not sit well with the reborn soldiers. They all wanted answers. Luna and Artemis had no choice but to take them beneath the Waldorf-Astoria.

"Who _are_ you?" Raye demanded to the shadowy figure on the screen.

"I am Sailor Pluto, the watcher. I am the guardian of the Gates of Time."

"Pluto?" said Lita, incredulously. "Exactly how many Sailor Soldiers are there?"

"There is a princess and guardian of every planet in our solar system."

"Technically, Pluto is a dwarf planet," said Amy.

Raye glared. "Really, Amy? Now?" She turned again to the screen. "Answer me, Pluto!" Raye demanded angrily. "I want to know why I was reborn here and forced to suffer through night after night of brutal beatings by my grandfather, forced to pay for the acts of my mother, forced to fight for this world, and then forced to _die_ for it!"

"Raye, please calm down. I know what you must be feeling."

"You don't know," Raye snapped. "Unless you've died and come back, you have no idea what I'm feeling. I want to know why I'm here. I want to know what I was before."

Raye was voicing what the others felt, but they were unable to articulate what it was that made them feel so empty after the resurrection. They understood the gravity of what they had done but could not wrap their heads around its purpose. They wanted to know more.

"Raye," Pluto answered gently, "I know you have many questions. I know you feel as though I've kept important information from you. But trust me when I tell you, it won't help you to learn your past."

"She's right," said Serena, reaching out to touch Raye's shoulder. "Look at what Darien and I went through at first."

"I saw what _you_ went through," Raye replied bitterly, shaking her shoulder away from Serena's touch. "Let's not forget that you're not the only ones to suffer in this life because of events beyond our control in the past."

"It's all about context, you know?" said Amy. "Who was Beryl? And why did she have such a grudge against this world? Why were we chosen to do something about it?"

"What happened at the end of the Silver Millennium? What were our lives like?" Raye prodded.

"Raye," said Pluto, firmness creeping into her voice, "you have no idea. If you think this life was fraught with tragedy, you haven't seen anything yet. Now I'm telling you, you do _not_ want to know what life was like at the end of the Silver Millennium!"

"I'm so sick of having everything decided for me!" Raye shouted. "I have a right to know everything about my own life!"

At this, Mina stood up. "I agree with Raye," she began. "Here we are expected to accept that we're charged with this mission of protecting the world, but we don't even know where we come from. Are we supposed to just forgo our futures to protect Serena without any idea where this responsibility came from?" As an afterthought, Mina glanced quickly at Serena and said, "No offense." Serena shrugged.

Lita added: "All I ever wanted in my life was to grow up, fall in love, and have lots of babies. Now I'm learning that I'm expected to just put my dreams aside so that I might spend my life fighting a war I don't even understand."

Sailor Pluto was quiet for a moment. Finally, she said softly, "If you _all_ feel this way, I suppose I can show you. I'd be breaking all the rules but if you _all_ agreed…"

Lita, Mina, Raye, and Amy all looked expectantly at Serena who was absent-mindedly fiddling with her shoelaces.

"Well?" Raye asked impatiently.

Serena blinked. "Darien and I are about to start a life together!" she protested. "With Beryl gone things can finally get back to normal! Why do we have to go digging up the past?"

Raye moved so quickly toward Serena that they all thought she was about to hit her. But instead Raye took a deep breath and said, "Look, Serena. I didn't want to play this card but don't forget what each one of us sacrificed to keep you safe."

Serena sighed. "I guess—Oh, fine, all right!"

"I strenuously object," Pluto repeated. "Once we do this, there is no going back. These memories will be with you forever, unpleasant as I assure you they are."

"That's it then," said Raye. "We've decided. We want to know who we were in the Silver Millennium and we want to understand what happened to bring us here."

"How exactly are you going to show us?" asked Amy, ever curious.

"There is a way to show you the past without interfering with it. I will have to open the Gates for you and take you down the Channel of Time." Pluto sighed audibly. "It's against protocol, you should know. But I guess if you all agree, I have no choice. I know what the future is without the Guardians protecting the world so I can't take the chance of your refusal."

The girls didn't respond, but waited expectantly.

"All right," said Pluto. "Wait one moment."

They scrambled to their feet and no one spoke. Just then, a bright red light in the shape of a door appeared just off to the right of their line of sight. It turned black and all of a sudden it swung open and a tall, suntanned woman stepped out of it onto the platform. She wore a sailor suit similar to their own, but with jet-black features and a blood-red bow. Her ebony hair had a slight emerald sheen to it and it fell gracefully to her knees. In her hands she gripped a long silver stick in the shape of a key that was anchored on one end by a heart-shaped bow. She made an imposing figure and even Lita felt slightly intimidated.

"It is an honor to meet you all in person," Sailor Pluto said, bowing ever so slightly. "And I want to thank you for the great sacrifice you made to save our world. I promise you it will not be forgotten."

At her praise, the girls felt slightly sheepish by their demands for Pluto to abandon protocol. But they said nothing.

Sailor Pluto tapped the Time Key against the door from which she came and it slowly opened all the way. "Follow me," she commanded as she entered the doorway and disappeared into a cloud of white fog. The girls stepped forward and one by one followed Pluto into the void.

Once inside, Sailor Pluto took Serena's left hand and placed it in Amy's right and gestured for the girls to follow suit until the five of them had all joined hands and stood in a ring, with Sailor Pluto standing along in the center. Serena looked around at the faces of her friends; they looked scared, but determined.

Sailor Pluto gripped the Time Key in both hands, closed her eyes, and held it in the air. "Channels of Time, open your pathways!" she called. She touched the tip of the key to the shapeless floor. A bright white light began in the spot she touched and shot upward. Slowly, the girls ascended into the air. Pluto remained behind as she cried out: "Let the Princesses enter the kingdom!"

**THE END**


End file.
